A Writer Is...

"Writers are like other people, except for at least one important difference. Other people dave daily thoughts and feelings, notice this sky or that smell, but they don't do much about it."

This quote comes from the book A Writer's Notebook: Unlocking the Writer Within You by Ralph Fletcher.

That statement made me think that perhaps I am not the writer I always dreamed of being. In fact, today my friend K and I were discussing writing a children's book. After all, we read them in our classrooms and they seem so simple, why couldn't we do the same. All one needs is a character, setting, problem, and solution. And illustrations. However, as we talked about it, I realized that there is more to writing a story than simply coming up with a character, setting, problem and solution. There is development of each thing. Then there are details that need to be added. The more I considered it, the more I began to realize how difficult it is to write a story.

Then again, isn't that all it takes to build a story. You need the creativity to develop the idea and the ability to put it into a cohesive, flowing format? I am beginning to think that the most difficult part to the whole thing is the perfectionism attitude that seems to stick in my mind. I do not recall if I read the statement that a writer's work is never perfect to the writer of if I am just making it up, but I think that would be my greatest difficulty in writing.

I do see beauty in ordinary things (well, except for that floating grocery bag...still don't get that whole thing). If not beauty then certainly amazing things that just stick with me. Maybe when I can get past the idea that no matter how hard I try, when I write something down it will never be perfect will help me to understand that I can be a writer. I don't need to have perfection, but I do need to have character, setting, problem and solution. Hmmm. Food for thought. For me anyhow.