This week: Reflections ... Edited by: fyn  
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Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay? Getting happy.~~Stephen King
Words create sentences; sentences create paragraphs; sometimes paragraphs quicken and begin to breathe.~~Stephen King
All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know. ~~Ernest Hemingway
We write to taste life in the moment and in retrospect. ~~Anais Nin
A writer is a world trapped in a person. ~~Victor Hugo
A writer has the duty to be good, not lousy; true, not false; lively, not dull; accurate, not full of error. He should tend to lift people up, not lower them down. Writers do not merely reflect and interpret life, they inform and shape life. ~~E.B. White
Writing, like life itself, is a voyage of discovery. ~~Henry Miller
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Sixteen years here at Writing.com seems to have passed in a brilliant flash of light. Then again, I feel like I've 'been here' forever! I've made some friendships that are true and real. I've actually met a bunch of these folks and I am so much richer for those experiences whether I've met them in person yet, or not. The best part of being 'here' is that I have learned so much! I have grown exponentially as a writer.
Someone told me the other day, as I was ruminating on these thoughts, that I was good when I arrived. HAH! I remember being terrified of writing dialogue. I figured out various ways to write short stories without using any dialogue at all. ANYTHING rather than having to put me out there and write conversations that I was positive would fall flat, sound ridiculous, or simply, not ring true.EVERYONE kept telling me that I needed to use dialogue to move a story along effectively, to further engage the reader to the characters and events transpiring.
There was a reason I wrote mostly poetry back in those days. I didn't need dialogue! I simply took the essence of a poem and made it a short story. Did it work? Occasionally. Did it REALLY work? No. Then I was challenged by someone to enter a contest that was ALL dialogue. I was hesitant. No, I was scared. Nope. Not doing it. Then that friend said something to the effect that he was disappointed that I was such a chicken, that I was letting myself down by not trying, and that I was a better writer than that.
After that, I pretty much had to enter. Did I win? No. Did I learn anything? Yes. Point was, I'd crashed through that invisible (but oh, so solid!) barrier. I learned that going a bit outside my comfort zone was a very good thing. I also realized something I hadn't before. I sailed through college writing classes, my BFA degree without ever figuring out that writing was a craft. It was just something I did, had always done. I could do better, be a better writer. Indeed, I learned that it was exceedingly important to me to become a better writer. Which, then, meant that I couldn't let a thing like dialogue scare me off or slow me down.
~~*~~
We are all, pretty much, apprentices in the craft of wordsmithing. We 'practice' writing every bit as much as a doctor or a lawyer has a practice. Because, if we are to do it well, we much continue to learn and grow. Realizing that was a huge wake-up call. Dialogue became a dragon I would slay, an opponent I would vanquish, a wall I would rebuild into a doorway. Writing is more than just a journey to new worlds, strange lands, or the innermost recesses of our brains. It is a journey of learning new ways to communicate, finding new oddball words, and discovering alternate ways to express ourselves.
[total sidenote: If you've never watched the movie The Phantom Tollbooth, seriously take the time to do so ... as writers, you owe it to yourself! If you haven't watched it since you were a child, watch it again. You'll be amazed at all the little things that the kid-you missed!]
Now, looking back, I smile at my less confident self. Occasionally, I'll get a review on something I wrote, back in 2005 or 6. Reviewers unfamiliar with my later work will patiently explain why I need to learn the Art of Dialogue. Sure, I could easily go back and take the time to rewrite those pieces. And yes, I'm quite sure they would be all the better for the attention. But I also kind of like the reminder that one never should stop learning, that there is no pinnacle we can reach, stab in the flag and declare we have conquered Mount Writing.
Going back and rereading things I'd long, LONG forgotten I'd written, takes me on another journey of sorts. I went back and did quite a bit of reading of my older pieces. Some make me smile, others make me shake my head and my eyes literally rolled at others! It has been interesting to discover how some of my perspectives have changed, while others have inordinately strengthened. Once favored ways of approaching a subject/concept/prompt have shifted. The 'whats' and whos' I tend to write about nowadays have meandered into different themes. My focus has either blurred or sharpened. (Depending upon how you look at them.) I'm a better writer than I was sixteen years ago. That I know for sure!
I also know, for sure, that I've still a lot to learn. I must if I am to grow as a writer. So must we all. I've said it before and I'm saying it now, again. Writing.Com is the best place ever to hone our craft!
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Starling  comments: I love what you have written here. Every bit of it needs to happen time and time again. Thank you for posting
hbk16 says: It is savoring the writing someone realized with passion and inspiration.
Piece by piece the hidden thoughts build a story. Good issue!
Rhymer Reisen writes: Nailed it. “Give your work the time IT DESERVES...” It’s too easy to forget these manuscripts become something living, something needing nutrition and nourishment, and doesn’t it deserve the chance to live? Excellent. You clearly understand the process!
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For Authors: March 03, 2021 Issue [#10642]
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