In two weeks, I will have my seventh interview since writing for my current internship, BLKPRENEURSHIP. When I started working here, I didn’t have much writing experience, besides writing two articles while in early college, and the little poem or inspirational diary entry here and there. And the first article was a total disaster (well in my mind) because I just didn’t know anything. At the time, I thought my writing was terrible and I wasn’t a good writer at all. When the newspaper editor emailed me back, I couldn’t believe how many mistakes I had on that Word document. It was utterly embarrassing.
If anything, article writing daily is teaching me that writing is not easy. Thankfully, the hardness is starting to get easier the more I go. But in this post, I want to reflect on my time in the internship and talk about some good things I’ve learned about writing and how terribly complex and awesome it is.
writing is hard
I’ve been thinking about the concept of novels and books—fictional or nonfictional—for the past few days now. The thought of a whole book deriving from one idea really hypes me up. Like, picture this: this one person has a thought that she wants to write a story about a girl who is raised as a human but finds out she is actually a vampire while her older brother kisses her and falls in love with her (yuck) and decides to flesh it out. (Sorry Vampire Knight fans.) She asks questions, keeps thinking and thinking, and after a while of commitment, hard work and passion, her story is published. Them made into an anime. With real voices, moving images—this is looking as realistic as it can get.
But all of these concepts for her story came from her brain. An idea. A thought that kept building upon other thoughts. And when I look at a book—heck, even my cell phone that I am currently writing this post on, but let’s keep it on books here—I see that the author thought of an idea, and a new world sprung up from that one thought. Of course, editors and other people gave their two cents, but the fact is that these words and images transpired through thoughts that were turned into words, that were used to describe pictures.
I first attempted to write a novel two years ago, and I’ve discovered that it’s hard. I felt frustrated, I had to completely revise certain sections, and I eventually changed characters. The thing about writing long-term is that it takes a lot of commitment and so much “I want to and I will do this” that it can pull a lot out of you. Writing is literally giving life to something that no one has seen or heard or felt. As the writer, I am in charge of that. Which is why with the words I use, I have to be selective amd use them to paint a beautiful picture—a very valuable weapon, I’d say.
writing is art
Writing no doubt is something artful. The ability to use words to spark up a picture in your mind says enough. Words themselves are something interesting to me, which is perhaps why I spend a lot of my time writing or thinking about writing. Writing is like the precursor to putting an idea to reality. No wonder this is something so hard. And the best part is you don’t even have to be a “good” writer to write! Despite the fact that writing takes a lot of mental toll sometimes, the good news is that it’s also a muscle. It can get better and better as your practice improves.
I am learning from my aunt and uncle that learning and building a library toward writing and journalism are vital to developing my skills more. I can’t just rely on the things I know now and just wing it…if I want to become the best writer I can be, I have to be dedicated to constantly learning and studying about ways I can improve. I never want to utter the words “I am such a good writer” only because other people think so.
different types of writing i do
#1: journalism/article writing
Article writing is one I do currently for my internship. I used to look down on this type of writing but boy was I naive and closed minded. Article writing is so fun and it’s much like storytelling to me, as I am telling the reader a story about what’s happening, who I’m interviewing, the music I just listened to, etc. I get to meet so many wonderful people and listen to them talk. I really like doing that.
It took me about three weeks to even think about writing this article. Following the interview, I was so nervous to start writing that I kept sitting on it. When the due date approached, I had to strap down and finally get to writing. Getting started at first was hard and scary, but when I got into the groove, I just couldn’t stop. Gathering the interview questions, making sure the quotes were matching up with the leading sentences, and fact-checking were all a part of the preparation. When writing, I learned that I have to care about this person’s story that I’m going to be sharing, not just about a paycheck. I fight with myself about this, because I want journalism to be an extent of the writing that I enjoy, not another job.
journaling
I like writing about my days and putting down thoughts. It helps refresh my mind, process information and situations that have been happening to me. Inspired by Anne Frank, I’ve always enjoyed writing in diaries and journals. But now I enjoy and utilize blogging and website building to hold my thoughts.
creative writing
I have always enjoyed writing and developing storylines. But as I’ve gotten older, this has improved and gotten sharper. I am working on different ways I can practice my writing skills by writing short stories and little summaries on ideas. It’s a lot of fun and I really enjoy it!
blogging
I started this blog around 2019. I didn’t really know a niche, but boy was it fun writing about things I liked! When it used to take me months to write a post, it now takes me a few days. I now write two posts a month and I can see my writing skills growing. I am learning more about WordPress and blogging so I can better develop this website and other writing skills. I never knew that WordPress could be so versatile and fun to work with!
conclusion
In the words of my wise uncle (whom I happened to have written about here…) “The hard things eventually get easier”. When I complained to him on how hard my second article ever with my internship was to write, he told me those words. I didn’t want to hear them at first, but I do agree with him now.
Writing is a lot of things at once for me. It’s fun, it’s hard, it’s easy, it’s boring, it’s exciting, it’s long, it’s electrifying. I’m not just a writer, I just like words and I appreciate putting them together to make a portrait. As I grow in my writing skills, I hope to help them become a blessing to people more than as a means to get approval from strangers through my published works. I want to write books, stories and all kinds of things, even if they never get published.
I simply just want to write about everything!!!!
Thank you for reading! Hopefully you’re inspired to get some stuff done with your words. ☺️
Copyright © Shanedra Smith 2021. All Rights Reserved.
Shanedra Writes Too Much 