This is going to be a bit of a cheesy post. The main reason being that it's going to be me mainly claiming how wonderful the internet is and how it had helped my life in a positive manner. As if no one's already sung the praises of the internet or how it changed their life.
My class was asked to write, in relation to Kathleen Blake Yancey's
Writing in the 21st Century, what impacted our writing life positively. There was no specification to whether it was writing digitally or not. My "inspiration" that I am going to write about is one of many, but it can easily be related to Yancey's article. Ready?
I had just become an English major and was very much in love with the discipline (I still am). Most of my classes were part of my major, but there was not a whole lot of writing--specifically creative writing, which I was dying to do and share my work with others and read their work, too. Long before I was an English major, I was a book nerd.
So I knew a thing or two about not just the book world, but the publishing industry and the craft of writing. I knew enough that I realized that if I ever wanted to become an author myself (among other bookish things), I needed to get my work critiqued. Where did I go? Drumroll please . . .
Shocker, right? I searched on the amazing internet and guess what I found? A wonderful writing group just out of town! I contacted them by email and wala! A response came within two days and the next week I entered a room and became part of the group. The people were kind, experienced but still very willing to learn more, excited I was there, and quite versatile.
Despite all of the members being a whole generation ahead of me, they had different mediums they wrote, edited, and read on. When a member wanted to submit a work, the leader of the work sent the entire piece to all the members by email. To critique, we could either edit on Word using track changes, or we could print out hard copies and mark up the piece in actual pen. I chose to read on my laptop then print out a copy and mark it up with pen.
The truth is, as I'm sure you've already realized, that the easy contact between members of the group and the amount of writing we can bring to a polished end was greatly impacted by the use of the internet and digital writing. Without Word or another word processing program, we could not so easily and quickly share our work and critique it; we would have to wait to meet every other week to exchange work. And considering I had no idea this group existed until I googled for one, I never would have found a writing group. Okay, maybe I would have, but the internet made it much, much quicker and less stressful.
I've learned a lot since joining this group; including what format to write and edit in works best for me as an individual. I fiddled with writing a rough draft by hand; I used track changes for a while to critique; and I rewrote a story by hand without touching a keyboard after revising the same draft on my laptop. I also came to appreciate the different ways people write. I learned how to accommodate their preferences, such as if a member preferred a hard copy so she could pour over a draft without having to stare at a screen or be distracted by the internet.
Being in a writing group helped my writing and interactions with other writers in ways I never would have learned by remaining by myself in my room. As Yancey writes of this new age of digital writing, "we are writing to share, yes; to encourage dialogue, perhaps; but mostly, I think, to participate" (5). I want to share my work and read others, then discuss the writing, but I also want to feel I am not so alone in this frightening endeavor we call writing. The writing group I am part of has encouraged me in my writing while helping me hone it by sharing my work and other digitally and then discussing it through email and face-to-face.
There is no right or wrong way to write. There is no best way to write that first rough draft, edit that third draft, or publish your polished, perfect final text. All you have to do is write. On a computer, a blank notebook, amongst your class notes, or grocery lists. Just write! With a group, by yourself, or near other people but not collaborating. Just write! By tweet, fanfiction, novel, poem, or short story. Just write!
I found the best way to write for me (I think, anyways). The best way for you to write may be completely different, and that is great. Just freakin' write and see where it goes. You'll learn a lot.
Bibliography: Yancey, Kathleen Blake. Writing in the 21st Century. Rep. Urbana: National Council of Teachers of English, 2009. Print.
