Inspiring Six Word Memoirs

1) " My greatest release is forgetting everything."
- This memoir made me feel partially connected to the writer. I felt this way because this is what I wish I could do. I over-think things constantly and never let anything go. I hold a grudge like it’s my job and I don't and can't forget about anything. Once I have experienced something, large in scale or small, I never forget. Sometimes not forgetting things is a good thing, but in others, it is annoying because it causes me stress. If I were able to just forget about the small things in life, I know that working through stress would be much easier for me.


2) "Write, Submit, Rejection, Submit, Publication, Finally."

- I like how this entry is cut up and forced me to pause when I read it. It allows me to feel like I can hear the writer speaking. I liked this memoir because I goes along with a theme that I live my life by. That this is to never give up. I feel as though this is an extremely important theme in life because if you give up, you are missing opportunities that could bring great things. Just because a failure occurs that could cause you to be upset, does not mean you should let it get the best of you, try again and a different result could occur that makes you happy. Perseverance is something that I believe will get someone far in anything they do, school, and work and in life in general.


3) "Overnight success took thirty-five years"

- This entry made me think about how unrealistic the whole "overnight success" thing is. Unless one of your very wealthy family members died and you inherited a lot of money, you are not going to get any money overnight like that. However, being successful does not always mean having a lot of money. You could be successful at what you do as a job, as a parent, a leader, anything really. From this quote I am assuming the man/woman is referring to money. In anything that you do in life, practice makes you better. Time also makes you better due to experiences gained through mini-failures. This memoir just re-iterates my feelings about being successful; you have to work for it! It may not be easy but it is worth it in the end and if you are patient enough and worked hard enough, everything you did will pay off for the outcome.


4) "My six words grew to thousands."

- I really enjoyed this entry because of how true the statement is. In my opinion, it is very difficult to express or tell a story in very few words. I feel as though you are only touching on a certain part of something that you have encountered. For example, turning fifty, you were not and are not going to be fifty forever. This entry also relates to me with writing in general. When I am told to be concise or make it short and sweet, it drives me crazy because I always have so much to say and never want to miss a detail. I assume that is something that I will have to work on and get over as my writing career progresses.


5) "Recovering perfectionist, still not good enough."

- This memoir is me. I am a perfectionist and know it, it drives me crazy. I have to have things my way and perfect all the time, otherwise I feel as though I have to fix it and make it the best it can be. I push myself to do well and study like a maniac, staying up late many nights just to make sure I go over everything. Once I feel I have done enough, I go to bed confident, and wake up a nervous wreck. I feel as though I missed something, or that I will forget the content, all that studying just doesn't seem like enough. This entry speaks to me and makes me realize that I am not alone in my madness. I would love to not feel this way about everything but honestly I cannot imagine myself accepting things that I have not tweaked to make perfect. The funny thing I am nowhere near perfect but for whatever reason I try to be every day.

Goals for Growth

Hey Again,  
      I am taking Creative Writing to become a better writer, obviously, therefore I have some areas in writing that need some help, done by growing as a writer.
        The first area that I would say I need to improve on would be in variety. I tend to write about the same type of subject...every time I write. It's not that I have the same story line, characters or anything like that; it’s that the theme and tone of my pieces are all very similar. For whatever reason, I tend to write thought provoking or mysterious occurrences, which works for me every time (or at least I think it does) but I think it is time for a change. I want to be able to subconsciously come up with a story at any time on various occasions that has a different tone and theme as the previous pieces. I am not sure exactly how to do this but I think that as long as I take my time in thinking about a story, at least for now, eventually ideas will come to me more quickly and perhaps by then my growth will be sufficient enough.
         The next area in which I am weak as a writer is in my thoughtfulness. I usually write quite blank mindedly, not really giving what I am writing about a lot of thought, which in turn makes what I write kind of dry. For whatever reason, I have a hard time expressing my voice in my pieces, I kind of "tell it how it is" as plainly as i can and am very vague, expecting the reader to catch on to what I am hinting at. I truthfully do not know why I tend to do this but it kind of frustrates me. It frustrates me because I feel like I am boring to read. I also tend to be very conservative on how deeply I think about subjects or topics of discussion because I do not like to make people angry, which in turn leads to vagueness, and eventually confusion or frustration from the reader because I am vague. I want the reader to be able to know how I feel about something, yet I do not want them to be annoyed by my opinion. I guess I am going to have to write it and leave it for what it is worth. If someone does not like what I wrote, then I guess they shouldn't continue reading anything that I write from that point on but I am willing to take constructive criticism as a way to grow as well.
Until the next time,
                       - Ryan

Welcome Entry!

Hi All!
        This blog will include most of the writings that I will do in Creative Writing and possibly some unrelated to class pieces that I feel like doing. I tend to write short stories more than any other type of writing but I do dabble with poems occasionally. Who knows, maybe by the end of this class I will be able to comfortably write all different kinds of pieces but we'll see. At this point in time I am completely engulfed with school work but I am sort of okay with it because oddly enough I enjoy school. I do not like going outside of my comfort zone in life, and in writing, mostly because I hate making a fool of myself.
        Mystery is my favorite genre of writing, I think that is because it makes me think ahead and assume various things. I also like stories that deal with problems in society like racism, sexism and other social breakdowns; there is something about overcoming a problem and squashing an evil character that I enjoy.
        My all-time favorite writer is J.K. Rowling. I think she is a genius. I am in awe over how creative she was/is and also by the fact that she was able to create a series of stories that flowed together amazingly with no error or confusion as to what was missed or why one thing is the way it is. And to think, it all started on a napkin....
        My problem when it comes to writing is that I have trouble starting something, either I am unmotivated or I have little inspiration. The strange thing is that once I start I am able to just go, which I would definitely categorize as a strength, however, then I can't stop. If I am doing a timed assignment, when I run in to the aforementioned type of situation, I end up wrapping up the piece quite chopping and abruptly. I absolutely enjoy writing as a whole. To me, as a quiet and reserved person, it is a way to express myself and not feel as though someone is going to judge me for something I have done, because I only have to show what I write to who I want to.
        I am taking Creative Writing in order to be able to learn how to be, well, creative and to learn how to write in many different styles/types of writing, which in turn I can express myself through.
        You can expect to see a lot of pieces in this blog as the year progresses, perhaps every weekend I will update it or when I am supposed to!