Real Writing

              Looking back on my evolution of writing, it is apparent how much has changed; from storytelling and playful interactions to academic writing and public speaking.  But, there has always been an underlining goal which is to tell how I feel.  Why express something that is fake or not real?  I have learned from my parents that you can never be too outgoing or loud.  Just like the evolution of writing, my telling has changed many forms and personalities.  My audience has also changed and grown with me.  No matter my reason for telling a story or writing a paper, my parents have guided me down my expressive path.  Writing in the dark about the storytelling in my household was much like telling a story; I had to recollect memories in my mind and put them in a fashioned order.  This exercise showed how powerful the recollection of events can be without the lights.  

             My dad  has been the storyteller in my family forever.  I always remember him telling stories around the fire at night after we had dinner.  The story e and my brother always assked him to tell was the one of the babies and the pirates.  This is about babies who give pirates urine when the pirates board their ship and ask for gold.  It would have my brother and I laughing hysterically.  My dad is a very good storyteller because he always gets into it.  Even when we would have big family gatherings with my cousins, uncles and grandparents, he would be the storytelller.
     This story has influenced me positively.  In my family, nothing is ever taken to seriously.  We joke and laugh all the time.  This story turns a scary and intense scene with [pirates and capturing a ship, into a funny and loveable tale.  My dad has always come up with or experienced things that seem crazy.  But, when he tells them, I almost always believe him.  A good storyteller must have a confidence and emotion when telling a story.  This makes for not only a powerful story but also one that is well remembered.  My dad has both of these which makes him a really good orater.

My dad has taught me a lot about communicating verbally and visually.  I have been writing almost my whole life and I think it is finally time to ask, am I a writer?  The word writer carries with it many different meanings.  I write for school, to my friends and on Facebook or other websites.  But, practically everyone then becomes a writer because of the plethora amounts of writing humans do.  I do not think that I am a writer.  To be a writer one must love to write and partake in the activity in their free time.  They must love to create stories, write persuasive essays or free write.  A writer takes a writing assignment much more personally then someone does not consider themselves a writer.  Even though I do not take my writing personally, I do find reason and meaning to write.

I write for many different reasons.  Most of the time, I write because I have to.  Either for school or otherwise, there is constantly something that needs written.  I have trouble getting deeply involved into most of this writing.  But, when something really hits me or generates opinion, then there is a different goal.  My task goes from ‘just getting it done’ to finding a way that truly reads how I feel.  I want to get everything down on the page.  When I strongly feel something, that is when my writing is the most persuasive and its best.  I try to lock onto emotion to whatever I write.  This is not just in writing but in living.  It is easy to find a reason to live if you have strong feeling.  Even if this feeling is anger or sadness, this is enough to get through the day.  Try living a day, month or year without feeling.  There is an emptiness that hits hard.  This is when people give up on living.  When I write without feeling I have the same “give up’ mentality.  I doesn’t matter how I am feeling but I know how to embrace it.  Don’t write anything with fake emotion.  Don’t write anything with no emotion. 

Through the processes of trial and error with my writing, there is a lot that I have learned.  My advice to writers, however, is very simple.  It does not take a lot of effort or long nights.  It does not involve locking yourself in a confined room and trying to write.  My advice is to live.  Go out and experience and see everything you can.  Go to places that seem crazy or wild.  Do things that are embarrassing or stupid.  But not just that, do things like fall in love, or hang out with people you don’t normally hang with.  By living and doing all these things, you have already started writing.  A good writer writes persuasively and with purpose.  They write abstractly and powerfully.  When you begin experiencing life to the fullest, start writing.  By living, you can relate all that you have seen to what you write.  My writing has changed numerously and dramatically overtime, but one factor has always been present and that is to be real.