The boxes in which we put ourselves

MUSE

September's  column for The Greater Canton Writers’ Guild Newsletter

The boxes in which we put ourselves

     First time writers are always told, “write what you know” and they dive into their pool of knowledge head first, taking their first tentative strokes with their pens.  But after a few years and many laps of swimming in that subject matter, writers  may feel the need to expand.  To be brave, writers must get out of the pool and take a dive into the ocean.  

 

Explore new topics, learn new things. 

     The world of writing is vast and I find that exciting – and there’s no need to stay on the same topic all the time. To be honest, your readers might be bored hearing the same topic all the time.  Understandably, writers may discover they have a tendency to stay within certain comfort zones.  But it is always good to take a step out of what we so often  find ourselves  writing.   Learn something new and play with ideas – push them around, see how far they’ll stretch.  We do need to keep in mind that there is,a difference between having a re-current theme and redundancy.

 

     Writers may wish to ask themselves what they have learned as a writer this past year – your writing needs to grow right along with you.  If  your writing doesn't grow, if it stays the same, it becomes stale. Make a promise to yourself to take a chance or two with your writing style and subject matter, explore and reach out into new horizons.  Starting something new - topic, idea or story line - is exciting and keeping to what you’ve done before is limiting. Take a chance. Who knows where you’ll go.