Olivares_RoughEssay_03/07/13

Estefan, this is who you write your L’s. Estefan, this is how you write a poem. Estefan, this is how you write a resume. Estefan, this is how a you write an annotated bibliography. Estefan, this is how we write in school. School is where I write. I am given an assignment and I do it. School tells me how to write and what to write about. If I had to make an estimate, about 90% of all the writing I have ever done was for school. There was little incentive for me to write. There still is. Its more fun to read, to escape to the world of another person. There is no effort on my part. I open up a book and a whole universe is there for me to explore. I didn’t have to make it up and I get to spend hours within the folds of the paper.
And glorious worlds there are. From Ellen Hopkins world of Crank and Impulse with their inverted language, constantly breaking writing conventions as a deeper more disturbed world is unveiled. Or the world of Brian Jacques world of Redwall with its brave and noble woodland creatures fighting to defend one another. And who can forget the food. It makes my mouth water even a taste of those wonderful morsels. Or the world of Michael Grant where children struggle to survive against increasingly powerful odds. A world where the rules are constantly changing and one mistake can change your life. Why should i write when their are thousands who will do it for me. What is the motivation when in my lifetime there is already enough literary works that would interest me that I couldn’t even finish them all.
So why do I write at all. School gives me the purpose of writing. School requires that I present my ideas out on paper, so I have to take the time and the mental power to produce pages of literature. Describe why light acts the way it does. Was Hamlet truly crazy and if so what is your proof? Summarize the plot of the Magic Treehouse books. Write what you think Genre Theory is. I think of myself as a good writer and given the time and motivation I have produced a multitude of words. I have filled a blank page with my own thoughts. But always at the behest of another. What I don’t do is write for myself.
One of the reasons for my lack of writing is because I can get my thoughts down fast enough. My pen can’t move as fast as my thoughts. Even the keyboard and computer with its advantages cannot compete with the speed that I can craft a story within my head. Writing, for me,  is like moving in slow motion. To craft the stories that I have requires me to slow down, to think about how people will view the piece. Does it make sense, do they know who is talking, Oh I had this really great idea but its so far ahead, know I have another story and its cooler. The ability to get my thoughts down takes considerably more time and energy because I am creating the universe. I am sculpting the pillars that will support a wondrous place for others to escape into. And creation is a long process. For someone like me with such a busy schedule, to leave aside time to build is a feat in itself.