Tonight marked the second night of my 4 week "Unlocking Creativity" creative writing course. In an ideal world I would have posted about my first week before now, but as usual, the days and life have gotten away from me and a week has flown past in the blink of an eye.
Anyway, I really enjoyed my first week although I definitely felt out of my comfort zone. I may be able to write easily when doing so from my own heart and as me, but I have always struggled with writing in character (As I say that I might have to take it back - I do recall as a child I was always writing stories at school and home. I sooooo thought I was going to be the next Paula Danziger or Judy Blume!). But as I got older this ability seemed to fade. It probably coincided with the judgement and self criticism that accompanies ones teen years.
Part of the process in the classes I am currently doing is to be given a short exercise and to share what you have written with someone else. While I admit that my writing is never as bad as what I fear, I still find myself having flashbacks of the creative writing component of my final high school english exams and having no idea what to write, my mind blank and the clock ticking. To this day I thank my lucky stars that you never got your work back or had to find out what the specific grade was that you were awarded because I'm sure I would have been mortified.
Despite my anxieties, flashbacks and lack of comfort, I am going with the flow and trusting the process. The teachers keep reassuring us that we will be so surprised by the improvement we will see over the 4 weeks. At this stage I am not entirely convinced in regards to my own progress (yes, we are our own toughest critics) but I look forward to being proved wrong!
I'm totally with you on the comfort zone thing and understand that high school English exam feeling all too well. I hope though that you ultimately enjoy the writing course journey and just let it flow. Am looking forward to reading more of you through your blog.
ReplyDeleteJudy