What to Write When You Can Write Anything
Friends, I need advice. I thought about writing a letter to Dear Abby but I need immediate feedback.
The dilemma:
I don’t know what to write.
Now, I know that sounds crazy. I am English major after all but please take my predicament seriously…
The situation:
I began my nonfiction writing course yesterday and after reading the syllabus I realized that I have the creative license to take the class in whatever direction I choose. This is exactly what I wanted from the course but now that I actually have the power, I’m at a loss for inspiration.
I want to continue writing on my education blog (which you’re reading now) but I also want to expand my perspective and try something different.
Here are the ideas I’ve collected thus far:
- Fishing column
- Memoirs
- Blog about writing
- Outdoor activity review
- DIY articles
- Write about reading
- Slam poetry
This list is, by far, not exhausted and I want to widen my horizon. What types of nonfiction writing would you like to do if you had the time?
The best part is that my collection doesn’t have to be strictly nonfiction, some genre mixing is also allowed.
Addendum:
The other awesome part about this class is that we must create some type of publishable essay of any length or topic. This leaves the doors wide open and I fear that I will miss a great opportunity simply because I haven’t heard of some platform.
Do you know of any great publishing opportunities? It could be as simple as entering my (currently unwritten) piece for submission in a journal or newspaper or scholarship competition.
So, my friends, what would you write if you could write anything?
Any thoughts or advice is much appreciated because Dear Abby is one busy lady.
I always thought non fiction picture books would be a fun challenge. I live in a small Quaker founded community n have toyed with writing about the founder. You probably could get a kick starter campaign for funding.
I think it’s really challenging to do anything except freeze when given too much leeway with writing. That was a mistake I made when I first started teaching the workshop way. “Hey everybody! We can write about anything! Woo!” And everybody came down with a debilitating case of writer’s block. Writers discover what they want to write about through the routines and habits of regular writing. That’s why I think notebook work is so essential. I don’t know what I want to write about–or how I want to write it–until I am actually writing, and I may have to do quite a bit of writing that goes nowhere to discover something I want to write. And then there is reading. Many, many of my ideas for what I want to write about come from reading. I write off of other texts all the time. Certain writers really make me want to write–Sandra Cisneros, Billy Collins, Natalie Goldberg, Georgia Heard. There are some writing assignments in Penny Kittle’s Write Beside Them that I really love too (heart maps; the neighborhood map). What about getting a book like Georgia Hear’s Writing Toward Home and using it for inspiration? What about writing every day for 20 minutes in your notebook (especially if you take it somewhere public to write) and seeing what happens? What about getting a creative nonfiction textbook like Tell It Slant and working your way through that?