Saturday, June 20, 2009

Why I like writing a blog.

By now, some of you have probably asked yourself -- "What's with this Duncan, fellow? Can't he shut up? I can't keep up with his blathering."

Thing is, I like to write.

The following isn't meant to be egotistical. But it does explain why I write so much.

Growing up in Bend, I don't remember 'creative writing' as being part of the curriculum. I can count on one hand the number of times I was asked to write something creatively. Maybe there were other incidences, but I don't remember them.

In the fifth grade, I wrote a story about Snoopy and the Red Baron that was a huge hit with my classmates and my teacher. I mean, I was a rock star for about a week. At the end of the school year, my teacher singled me out to read it again in front of the class. For reasons I don't now remember, I was disgruntled and mumbled my way through the reading. I'll always remember the leaden response from my teacher and classmates.
It taught me that, if put in that postion, I at least need to try.

Then in the seventh grade I had an art teacher who assigned a clipped out picture from Life Magazine to each student, and asked them to write a story about it. Mine was a picture of the red rock bridge monument in the Southwest. As I went to sleep, my brain started churning out this tremendously emotional story of life and love and death and meeting under the bridge that was epic in scope. Epic, I tell you!

I woke up the next morning and dished out something else, got my usual A or B grade, and forgot about it. Well, not completely, because that creative urge that set in that night lingered. What if I had actually written it?

Then as a sophomore in high school, in a business class of all things, we had a guest speaker. It was a radio ad guy, who is sort of really well known in this area (I still hear his voice on local T.V. and radio.). He asked us if we wanted to try to create a 60 second ad, and gave us the particulars. I seem to remember it being a V.W. ad. Anyway, I wrote something out and that was that.

A few days later, he came up to me after class and asked if I was Duncan McGeary, and would I mind if he used my ad copy in a radio ad. I was a bit surprised, but said, sure why not?

And sure enough, there it was on radio shortly thereafter.

All these were small signs that I liked to write. I'd get idle comments from teachers, like "You have a facile ability with words which you need to discipline." And I'd usually get that moment in college when the professor who had ignored me up that moment would seek eye contact with me after I'd written my first paper and seem to be saying, "I'm on to you. I know who you are now." I even had a teacher say that outloud in class in front of everyone, embarrassing me. "Duncan knows this, but Duncan won't say. Duncan knows more than he's letting on...."

Just before going off to college the second time (I flubbed the first time) I had another one of those brainstorms. I loved Lord of the Rings, and nothing like LOTR's had been written up to that point, and I wanted to write something like it. My family was dubious, my mother was worried. I heard a lot of "You should be realistic." Only my friend Wes encouraged me, for which I'm eternally grateful.

I was stuck, though, on how to get started. Finally, I said to myself, "Just write a story. A story you would like."

Two sleepless nights later, I had STAR AXE pretty much mapped out. It took me another five years of flailing around trying to write it, but I finally got it put together and sent off. (By which time there were innumerable LOTR pastiches, sigh.)

It completely surprised me when it was accepted by not one, but two publishers. The money wasn't as much as I thought, but it was a beginning. I immediately wrote the next novel, and got it accepted, and then started the third.

Eventually, I wrote 7 novels, and the sixth and seventh I felt were the best. But in the meantime, I ran up against the reality of the business of publishing. Sending books off into the VOID and not hearing anything for years at a time.

So when I bought the store and was immediately rewarded for my creative efforts, writing took a back seat. I intended to start writing again, someday.

Blogging has become that writing...

I figure about 3 or 4 novels worth of words.

But with immediate gratification of seeing it out in the world that very minute.

Because, you know, I just like writing stuff.

6 comments:

H. Bruce Miller said...

Dunc, the resistance you encountered in your youthful efforts to become a writer says much about the anti-intellectualism and anti-educationism (is that a word?) of Bend and Oregon. If you had grown up somewhere else (back East, for example) and gotten more encouragement I really think you could have gone far. You have talent, dude.

Anonymous said...

Dunc, I like the fact that you update your blog so regularly. There's something nice about having a site to check at least once a day, and always getting something new.

Duncan McGeary said...

I think the schools were pretty good back then, and my family was anything but anti-intellectual.

But it is strange that I ran into so few creative writing projects....

H. Bruce Miller said...

"I think the schools were pretty good back then and my family was anything but anti-intellectual."

I believe the second part of that sentence, Dunc, but have a hard time believing the first. It was a logging town. You finished high school (maybe) and then you went to work in the woods or the mills. What percentage of your high school class went on to college?

I know a local guy, approximately the same age as you, who was the fourth generation of a logging family. When the timber industry went tits-up he went to college and got trained in tech support. (He's a very smart guy.) His father gave him a hard time for being "over-educated" and "trying to put himself above his family." True story.

Now the timber industry is gone, of course, but we've become a town of jock worshipers. Same anti-intellectualism from a different angle.

H. Bruce Miller said...

"But in the meantime, I ran up against the reality of the business of publishing. Sending books off into the VOID and not hearing anything for years at a time."

Ever consider getting an agent? Having had (at least) two novels published, it should have been easy.

Broofa said...

Regarding creative writing projects, I had the same experience growing up in L.A. and then Flagstaff. English and writing were easily my least favorite subjects. Ironic, considering how much I value these skills as an adult.

As I see it, our schools (the U.S.'s, not just Bend's) don't do a good enough job conveying the reasons why writing is important. Students are taught penmanship, grammer, spelling - valuable skills, no doubt. But how often are they asked to use those skills for things they care about? To craft arguments in a debate on issues that affect them? Or in Duncan's case, to write stories that stir their imagination? In most school systems writing is treated as something to learn so you can complete your other, equally objectionable, homework. With that attitude, it's no surprise that most students never learn to appreciate it's value as the foundation of communication and critical thought.

It's like drilling students on how to use screwdrivers, hammers, and saws day after day, without ever asking them if they want to build a treehouse or soap-box racer. At some point the emphasis must shift to reasons you learn these skills. When it comes to english, that often doesn't happen until kids are out of school and they discover it on their own, if at all.

I don't see this problem as anti-intellectualism however. It's just a flawed educational process that has become ingrained in our school system. Kids have to be graded, so teachers find it comforting to have easily gradable (read, "repetitive") assignments they can doll out year after year. Fostering creativity is hard and requires work. It's not surprising that it's not encouraged unless the class actually has "creative" in the title. 30-40 years ago, was Bend's student body big enough to justify having a "creative writing" class? Dunno, I didn't grow up here. But I wouldn't be surprised if such a class had just one student in it: Duncan.