Thank you for taking the time to consider author Maya Angelou's ideas about how dreams play into the writing process. Please do a New Post to your blog with your answers to 4-6 of the questions on the yellow handout I gave you. Your post should be a decent length (500 words) if you've provided thoughtful answers. Title the post Writers Dreaming. Also include an image (of Maya, of something connected to dreaming or an aspect of one of your answers) on this post.If you're interested in learning more about Maya Angelou, her interesting life and her beloved works, you can start at her official website. I bought this t-shirt showcasing her autobiography (one of my favorite books) I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings from a little store downtown next to Maria's called 5# Apparel. Most of the proceeds the store nets are donated to charities around the world. You can also find the t-shirt and others featuring classic, challenged books (ones that have been put on banned books lists at one time or another) at Out of Print. Click the "Shop" link to get to the t-shirts--the site donates a book to Books for Africa for every purchase made. I'd like to do some thinking this week about books that have made a difference to us as people and as writers, and I wonder if you've read any of the classics featured on their other shirts...
Continue to customize your blog layout with gadgets in the right column, maybe a new background or header. Click on the Edit Profile link on your Dashboard and fill in the information about yourself. You can also have a look at your classmates' pages. If you're inclined to comment, be sure to be positive and supportive and write in the best English you can. Please don't be lazy and write in all lowercase with no punctuation, and don't leave only meaningless "what's up/i heart you" type comments.
I love that several of you have mentioned you "dream" of becoming professional writers. Leave a comment here telling us why you'd like/not like to be a professional writer and/or what kind of writing you see yourself doing. Stephenie Meyer said on Oprah that she always heard that was an unrealistic, financially hopeless goal, but I hope that no matter what anyone says, if that's your dream, you go for it. Seems like you'd regret not trying more than you'd regret taking a shot at it...
I would love to be a professional writer someday. I would love it, because I love telling stories, creating new worlds, and sharing my thoughts with other people. There are so many things I want to do someday, and if one of the things I could do is publishing my own work professionally, I would be over the moon with happiness.
ReplyDeleteGood morning,
ReplyDeleteOne of my aspirations is to someday be able to claim published work—and be telling the truth. I'd absolutely love to have other people read my work, flipping pages in a book (or swiping on a grimy touch screen because they have no sense of tradition and no love of the feel of paper). I'd love to write fantasy fiction and poetry, but I'd also have short novels about little ideas like time traveling, philosophy and psychology (all fiction, of course).
Have a lovely night,
Zachary
I love to write, but I don't think I can do it professionally. I want to be a teacher, and I know I'm going to have write a lot for that. From emails to directions on a work sheet, I will be writing everyday. In the future, I plan to keep a blog going so that I can continue to share my stories with others.
ReplyDeleteHello!
ReplyDeleteI love writing, but I think doing it for a living would ruin the experience for me. Facing a deadline, worrying about money, writing for other people and not for me, it would be a disaster. I hope to become published someday, but I don't want it to be because I need money. It would have to be because I had something to say and my work was the only way I could say it.
-Taylor
I love this! I completely agree, great thoughts!
DeleteI also have to agree with Taylor on this one- I feel like I would never want writing to feel like a job, an end all kind of thing. I would rather go into maybe being a journalist or something else where can still have a creative outlet but not with so much pressure.
DeleteAlthough I have seriously considered it, I don't think I could be a professional writer. I think it would be extremely hard to make a living that way.Especially if you have writer's block and don't have inspiration for writing, then you don't produce anything and you don't make money. I also think it would be hard for me because I am very hard on myself about my own writing so I don't think it would be easy for me to feel confident enough about a piece to publish it for the world and make money off of it.
ReplyDeleteMrs. Fraser,
ReplyDeleteI would love to become a Novelist someday. Not a journalist. A Novelist. I do not want to become a novelist for the sake of me loving to write, and not necessarily to entertain either. But to Give people hope in a greater life. I do not have any idea of where this society we live in is going, but it's not up. I used to despise reading until I read a book written by an author that wrote like that. It changed my life. I feel like I now have a better perspective of life now. What I want to do, what I can do. He inspired me to not just look at the skin of this earth, but to dig a little deeper and see the earth for how it really is. He now shares that with other people who are blind so they may receive sight. That is exactly what I want to do. I am not writing for myself, but for everybody who is in need of help and support.
Thank you for taking time and asking us this question.