The Engineer Who Thought He Could Write

I recently listened to a pod cast from Writing Excuses in which a writing instructor confirmed my belief that anyone can learn to write professionally. He did say, however, that for those without natural talent it might be like learning to swim without arms. I think that reading my book might be like watching a person trying to swim without arms. You might be tempted to ask why I'm in the pool in the first place, why almost drown when life on solid ground has so much to offer. I think in previous post I've expressed enough of the "why" that to do so again might get tedious. Instead I'd like to present insight in what this effort has brought to me.

Before embarking on this amazing expedition (and still way too much today) the joke, "I'm an Engeneer Enginere Ingenear good with math," applies painfully well to me. In fact most of the poor communication skill stereotypes were my life. I liked the term "socially independent" over other terms and I'm not necessarily "shy" per-say. But it has been, sometimes more than others, easier for me to do what I like on my own as opposed to having to interact with others. It is somewhat funny to joke about the ways that guys tend to bond in general, with as little said as possible -- just being in the same place and doing the same kinds of things in proximity to others.

With so much stacked against me, failure is of course inevitable (at least for the first seven years). Unfortunately even after those seven years of hard work, I might just barely be comparable to a teenager writing his first book. But I do see improvement (and drastic improvement over how I started). I still see a lot more that I have to learn, but since I'm making progress (however slow) I know that I can do this.

For me it might be like running my first marathon, learning a second or third language,  (though significantly harder and a lot more time consuming than all of those) or flying to the moon (which I haven't yet done). But I do love a challenge. I love the quote, "It's better to shoot for the stars and miss than shoot for a mud puddle and hit it."

I remember loving Leonardo da Vinci as a child and being disappointed when as a teenager I was told that those days are long gone. Today, I was told, a person has to learn depth to succeed and learning breadth would only cause more problems for earning a living.

I also love hearing about great pioneers like George Washington Carver. I remember once being upset that I wasn't born with more hardships that I had to overcome so that I could shine as bright as he and others like him. I've learned from writing that the best stories are those in which the main character has a lot of challenges to overcome. Many writing instructors say that "conflict," and how the characters deal with it, is the story. I'm certain that this is true of the stories we write of our lives (the process of living) as well.

Leonardo da Vinci once said, "It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things." So in that spirit I have learned, more and more now, how to find the challenges that might be the biggest for me and learn how to tackle them.

So while I might still look like I'm trying to be the biggest freak in the show, and still doing miserably bad at that, I love that I'm gaining friends along the way. I love that I'm getting better at sharing ideas, dreams, hopes and heartaches.  I love being out and doing something, and something that might have some value (I loved learning chess, but I think I can see this as being much more useful). I love the challenge; I love breaking myself against this until I can finally see some change.

So while it still might be a long while before I could make a living at writing, I can see myself torturing you with my writing for a long time to come -- at least until you can see the brilliance of it all (: .

And if you don't know how to help me, and would rather advert you're eyes from my pathetic flailing until I finally reach the majestic state of famous author, I can understand. But if you want to be remembered as one of those who knew me back when my writing was worse than hairy tomatoes on pickled rye toast, to gain bragging rights of being one of the first believers -- one who saw the brilliance before it became clear to the rest of the world, now is the time join with me. Join my conspiracy to take over the world with amazing literature. It might be a little painful at times, but I think it's a lot of fun.