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How Writing Gave Me Purpose

Stories fascinated me as a child. I remember being taught writing in the fourth grade. We wrote poetry and fiction. I wrote about my favorite color and Superman. I hated poetry in elementary school and continued to hate it until college. However, I was very proud of this poem I made in fourth grade, and I still remember it vividly because I felt that I could understand poetry when I was the one writing it. This was the first time I had created something like this. It was special to me, and I didn’t understand why as a kid. It would be long until that little fourth grader figured out what writing could teach him. 

During high school, I got into writing videos and worldbuilding. I would look at people's writing and take notes every day. I would write down what I liked about the characters, practice describing characters by looking at drawings, and take notes on how to use better dialogue. I outlined and wrote some short stories but quickly got busy with school. I use them for inspiration to this day. I thought it would just be a phase as I didn’t have as much time for it in college. I spent the first two years writing many poems and journal entries. I fell in love with poetry and how you could say so much with so few words. You can use a lot of descriptive and metaphoric words. Glistening, raspy, brittle, and gloaming are just a few of my favorites.  I love trying to figure out contrasting comparisons to make my metaphors more interesting to readers. This is an excellent little skill to have as a writer. I have learned a lot of tips over the years. Like always, tell a story through your characters, not the plot. Even though I loved stories in every form of media, I never considered it a career. I went through my first two college years as a sport and business management major. After two years and two majors, I still had no idea what I wanted to do. I was lost and unmotivated. For two years, I was uncertain whether I had picked the right major. 

One person who really helped me decide to switch to creative writing was my girlfriend, Iaslyn. She has the prettiest name, and I always try to think of a better name. I love how hers sounds and will never top it. I expressed what I felt then to her, and she was so quick to help—that's just who she is. I remember I was on vacation out of the country, and this was giving me horrible anxiety. She calmed me down and talked me through what I loved outside of sports. We went through lots of things, and writing kept coming up. So, she convinced me to think about switching to something in writing. A few weeks later, I got a job working with her at a performing arts theater. I was inspired by Beautiful: A Carrol King Story. Despite all the challenges that came with it, she wanted to be a songwriter. I loved how the theater put the play on. The actors were terrific, and the dialogue was funny. I decided to be an author and started writing my ideas immediately. I have always had novel ideas and have always wanted to write one book in my lifetime. But now, I want to do this for the rest of my life. Picking up reading again as a start to this journey. 

As a kid, I was struck by many stories—Star Wars, Narnia, Harry Potter, the Fallout Series, Percy Jackson, and more. I always found it fun to analyze and watch character development play out. I still enjoy finding new TV shows with whacky characters. I feel like I am making something special every day, every time I write and learn. Writing can be freeing. It has done some good for my anxiety as I can get lost in the world in my head and on paper. Especially if I can find a scenic spot, you can feel yourself get better every day. As long as you write daily, you can become the writer you want to be. 

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Sci-Fi and Reality Crash: Two books that have impacted my view on writing

Even More Fantastic Failures

Failure is the best way to learn how to be the best. So many historical figures failed early in their careers but outworked everyone else. This book shows how success is not about luck. It is about persistence and hard work, especially after failure. Obama is the first example in the book. Obama is one of the most inspiring people in American history. Even he had doubters. After he lost his race in 2000 for the House of Representatives even, he was sent away when he showed up at the door of political conventions. He had failed time and time again. His losses weren’t close either. Yet somehow, he would be president just eight years after this devastating loss. He never lost hope. I found this first chapter about Obama inspiring. It shows how someone can go through something “career-ending” and have their dream job. President of the United States. This book's chapters start with an engaging style, throwing the reader off by telling them a false narrative. For example, the chapter about Nick Foles talks about how, just five years before his Super Bowl MVP, he was the first overall draft pick. Everyone saw this coming, right? No. This is false; he backed the previous number-one overall draft pick, Carson Wentz. Nick Foles started his career as a backup for Michael Vick. He was the 8th quarterback selected in his class and was seen as a developmental backup. He quickly became a fan favorite and an interesting backup. He played great in his second season and even made a Pro Bowl. But he broke his collarbone and was unfortunately traded to the Rams. It was a new team, and he had the starting job. But after his poor play, he was benched and sent again to be a backup quarterback. Nick Foles had to make a difficult decision. Should he continue playing football? I never knew he was ever considering retirement from football when he was on the Rams. But at the end of the day, he decided to stick it out and was on the Cheifs the following year. He was the backup for most of the season again, but he was working hard and playing well with minimal opportunities. He also learned a very valuable lesson. How to have fun again. He barely even played much, but he found how much love there was in the football game. He was traded again back to the Eagles. He worked hard all season behind the young Carson Wentz. Wentz had a devastating injury at the beginning of the playoffs. Nick Foles stepped up and led his team to the Super Bowl. They were against the defending champs, the dynasty, and the New England Patriots. Tom Brady vs the backup Nick Foles. Nick Foles not only won the Super Bowl but also caught a touchdown pass and won Super Bowl MVP. He was on top of the world and achieved everything a player looks forward to. He never gave up, accepted his failures, and decided to have fun. I think we can learn from both of these inspirational people. Obama and Nick Foles. They both achieved something extraordinary in their professions. I think Obama is a more significant achievement, but the comparisons are fascinating. I loved this book; it had many amazing stories of hope, inspiration, and perseverance. It talked about Greta Thunberg and Beyonc,e too. It had excerpts of facts about different cultures, such as when fireworks were discovered. It is a fun visual book as well as inspiring and informative. Luke Reynolds did a fantastic job writing this book, using his teaching skills, taking these real stories, and putting a slight creative twist on them. I love learning about real stories told by really creative people. This book should be read by anyone aspiring to achieve big goals. I know I will be rereading it soon.

Lies to Cover the Toxins

The first book in the Silo Series, Wool, has some fantastic writing. It has truly inspired me as a writer in many ways. I love the metaphors and connections to Romeo and Juliet. The main character, Juliette, doesn’t even have any lines at the beginning of the book. Point of view switching is something Hugh Howey does very well in this book. He is the author of the Silo Series and plans to complete it soon. In 2021, he announced that he would start writing the fourth book, which fans had much anticipated. Wool has also gained popularity on Apple TV from the new TV show. Another good piece of writing Howey has in this book is suspense. There are a lot of suspenseful moments throughout the book. 

The book is set in an apocalyptic futuristic version of Atlanta. It is set inside underground silos that stretch hundreds of floors. The outside air is toxic, and nobody can go outside. When someone breaks a severe law, they are sent outside to clean the cameras that get dirty over time. The cleaners always die, and one man's wife got sent outside for looking too far. He wanted to be sent outside as her theory was that it was fine outside, and they were being lied to. IT controlled the cameras and built the suits. They were the technology and science group of the silo. He was the sheriff, so everyone was surprised when he was asked to be released outside. He saw it was spotless and gorgeous outside. He promptly fell over and died, taking off his helmet to reveal his visor was a lie. 

Howey gets you started with the sheriff and makes you think he has discovered that IT had been lying to them. It turns out they let their cleaners see a world that once was before they died in the toxic outside air. The beginning hooks you in and gets your brain working—theories and mystery all around, and you don’t know what to trust. Then, the book brings you to the mayor’s point of view until she gets killed by IT. Nex,t it jumps to Juliette and other side characters as Juliette gets thrown outside and escapes to another silo. None of the silos know about the other. The twists keep on coming as you find out there are more and more silos. It is written in a way where it can be mysterious and naturally give you background information about why the silos are connected. 

The antagonist was also really well written and easily hatable. I liked how Howey made sure these characters were widely different even though they all grew up in the silo together. Economic tensions are brought up as different levels have other responsibilities. These levels in the silo are spaced enough and give characters room for different personalities. Character interactions and relationships felt natural and furthered the plot. 

Romeo and Juliet comes up a lot in this book. Juliette is taken to the play when she is younger. Once her mother dies, she moves to be a mechanic, which is at the bottom of the silo and is the least appreciated. She is chosen for sheriff by the mayor, and while up at the top, she meets her love interest. He is a stargazer, but he works in IT. This isn’t revealed until much later. They meet while he is stargazing, and I think that is perfect. It feels natural for someone to want to be interested in the outside; he even learns about constellations and Earth's rotation. They had no record books of the world before the apocalypse. This also refers to star-crossed lovers, when two people are in love but can’t be together due to fate or family. I love the wool metaphor as well. The book's name comes from the tool the cleaners use on the cameras. Their routine is described in great detail, and it is almost tradition-like. They use a piece of wool to clean the cameras. This is a metaphor for the wool being pulled from one's eyes. The lie is revealed that the world is toxic, and IT might be to blame. 

Wool has encouraged me to write more in these ways. I have always been interested in sci-fi stories, so this was interesting, and I will definitely be taking inspiration from it for future stories. I am excited to finish the book series, short stories, and television series just released. I recommend it to anyone interested in a good apocalyptic and dystopian tale.  

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A Poem a Day

Being a writer in this world means going through a lot of rejection. But that doesn’t stop Professor Luke Reynolds from writing every single day. He always makes time for his writing, whether poems or a longer story. Writing every day will improve your writing and he lives and dies by this. He says that “its like exercise,” and if he hasn’t written that day, he can “feel the need to do it to stay healthy”. Luke Reynolds is an author and professor at Endicott College. Before he taught at Endicott, he was a middle and high school teacher in Connecticut and Massachusetts. He graduated from Gordon College in 2003 and went to Northern Arizona University for his Masters in 2008. Finally 2017, he got a PhD in Philosophy from Boston College. He writes every day in his office at home or work. He also loves writing outside and says He has published 17 books but has written many more that haven’t seen the light of day. Rejection is a part of the writing process and will help you continue to improve. New writers have a lot of hope as it is very easy to publish books on Amazon. Reynolds has some fantastic advice if you are inspired to be a writer.

What books or movies inspire you to write or have inspired you to write? 

 The film that most inspired me was Finding Forester.  It's with Sean Connery, and it is. It's an old, aging writer who who befriends this young teenager, and the bond the two of them form very, very cool. The best book on writing I've ever read is The Lie That Tells the Truth, by John Dufresne and it's a cool book all about the creative process.

Do you enjoy writing scripts, novels, short stories, or poems?

 I think my favorite thing to write is poetry. Especially now as a father of four. And when I write novels, it often feels like I need a few hours at a time to get into it, whereas it's busy. Yeah, in a poem, I've got 10 minutes. Let me just be creative and write a poem. So it's easier in a life that feels frantic sometimes. The most enjoyable thing to write is a novel so you can get lost in this world. 

Is there a genre that you prefer to write in?

My favorite genre is probably middle grade fiction. Okay, so fiction for middle school students, like coming of age, story for sure. 

Is there a reason?

That was probably due to that time in my life. You know when some writers have said you often write about the time in your life that was the most confusing and the hardest because you're always trying to tell stories to figure it out. And that's true for me. I tend to write toward middle school because that was a very confusing time, so I keep telling stories to understand it,

How did you get into writing?

I fell in love with writing when I was in fifth grade. I had a teacher named Mr. Looney who let us write anything we wanted in class, and that was the first moment when I felt like writing was not this formal endeavor to be done for a grade but an act of creative freedom. Since then, I've not been able to stop writing.

What do you use to motivate yourself to write?

A lot of things. On the one hand, it's also a, it's a very mental health thing. So, there's a lot of good research on writing and how just the act of writing physically is such a relief for, you know, our bodies, our minds. So that's almost like exercise, right? In some ways, like every day, if I haven't written a poem, in my journal, a script, or a novel, it's almost like I can feel like I need to do it just to stay healthy. So that's one good motivator. The other good motivator is my students. So, one of the first books I ever published was I wrote it for my middle school students when I was a middle school teacher. So sometimes, it can motivate me to think I'm writing this for these people, which can be helpful.

What do you love most about writing?

A few thoughts come to mind, like, one of the best feelings is like finishing a novel and then printing it on the printer, and seeing a printer print out, you know, 200 pages, and holding it and feeling like, wow, that like I created this, yeah, beautiful feeling or so that's pretty cool. And then also, because I probably have a little OCD, there's the sense of finishing a book project and seeing every piece of punctuation and seeing the page now. There's just something that feels deeply satisfying. 

What piece of advice would you give to an aspiring author or writer?

I can't say this was my own advice, but it's, it's advice that's been given to me, and it's the best advice I ever got, very, very simple, and it's the only thing that matters for a writer, and it's writing every day. Write every day. Write every day, no matter what you write, no matter how long, no matter how short it could be a minute or an hour, but every day, just write something, write a letter, write an email, write poetry. The more you do it, it just becomes a part of you, and it doesn't matter if it's bad or good. 

How should a new author approach the publishing process? 

So there it's, it's the best time to try to be a writer. Because, 30 years ago, in our 25-30 years ago, when I was first looking at how you published, it was pretty narrow. You had to go this, what we call the traditional publishing route, in which you get a literary agent or you send things to a book publishing company, like a random house or somewhere else. You'd send it off and wait six months, and they'd write back and say, No thanks, and you'd start the process again. It was very long and hard. Now, because of the proliferation of online publishing, some websites publish poetry and all kinds of things like that, but there are also, as you mentioned, so many self-publishing routes. So if someone wanted to publish a book 25 years ago, even if they decided I'm just going to self-publish, they had to have money to pay for it. But now Amazon has a self-publishing program where you don't need any money. Somebody could write a 200-page novel, upload it to Amazon's platform, design their cover, and hit publish, and it's available everywhere in the world, and you pay nothing, and somebody pays when they buy it. You could publish your book, pay five bucks, get a copy of your book a week later, and say, Here, I wrote this book. So that's cool because it means you could hold your book in your hands for whoever does the work. That said, there are certain perks to going the traditional route of, hey, I'm going to write a novel. Send it to some publishing companies. If they were to publish it, they would give you an advance. So they might say, We're going to buy this from you for $10,000, and then a year later, it's published, and then you earn money from that, which goes against the 10,000 they paid you. There are benefits, like working with a traditional company, where they have an editor, so your writing becomes stronger. So traditional publishing is still very awesome. It just takes a lot longer.

Have you self-published?

[Just] traditional. I've done it, but now I am thinking because it's such a slow process. Simon and Schuster have published a lot of my work, and I like working with them, but it's slow, and it takes, you know, a year to come out. Then so it feels very good to have this amazing team of editors, but on the other hand, and then if they don't like a project, they'll say no, and so then you're kind of like, but I still think it's a good book. It should be in the world. So lately, I've been thinking about more of that self-publishing route, but I've always done traditional publishing. 

Are you still writing novels?

So, I still write a lot, and I still have a lot of projects and things up in the air. And I try to write every day, not always a lot, but I try to write, trying to write every day. And it feels good to do it and send things out. I enjoy the process of trying to find a publisher. So you could send, you know, say you were to write a novel, you don't have to send it to just one publisher at a time. There are simultaneous submissions. You could send it to 20 publishers. So there's something fun in finishing a novel and saying, I'm going to send it to these 20 people. And then over the next few, four or five, six months, you start getting replies, and sometimes they all say no, but then if one says yes, it's awesome, you know, Christmas morning,