My mother used to teach little kids. One year she taught them how to write a story about an object or an experience. If I remember correctly, the kids must have been grade one or maybe two, and the story consisted of five lines or so. The example she used was a story about a cow: “There was a cow in the meadow. The cow had four legs and a tail. The cow loved to eat the grass…”
A few weeks later, Mom gave her class a test: “Your family took you on a picnic. Write a story about the picnic.” Nine out of ten kids wrote: “My parents took me on a picnic. There we saw a cow. The cow was in the meadow. The cow had four legs and a tail. The cow loved to eat the grass…”
I will never forget that. It taught me so many lessons and one in particular that I want to discuss today: going out of your comfort zone. So many of us are comfortable with whatever our strength is—writing an essay, writing a service piece, writing a novel—that we refuse to even tackle a new medium, saying it will be to hard. We could never do it. And if we tackle it, we try to use the same things we know about and apply them to the new challenge. But it won’t work that way.
I am trying to write a novel. I am an essayist and writing a novel is just about the hardest thing I have done. I kept using the “essay” style to write the novel. Essentially, I kept writing about the cow in the meadow. A friend read it and told me all that was wrong with it. And you know what? She was right.
I read it again and trashed more than half of it. I am now rewriting by learning new techniques and trying to build new skills. I am no longer seeing the cow at my picnic.
{ 8 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh how did you see directly into my brain and office? Excellent, timely, powerful. Good bye, cow. Goodnight, moon. Thank you, Monica. (*gulp* *deep inhale/exhale* ….)
We are all guilty of that, I guess:) I am also trying to veer away from essays, which is hard – as a journalist, I used to write all kinds of articles, but commentaries and essays were my favorites:)
Going out of your comfort zone is scary, but it has to be done. I’ll gulp like Nancy and jump over the fence.
Good luck with your adventure – I am sure you will succeed:)
I love this little tale, so typical of us applying only what we know. ‘What a Cow’ writing can be sometimes!….but I love your words & think you have all the honesty & flair of a novelist….your experience & ‘experiences’ will surely help u think ‘outside the paddock!’ All the best
Rani
You, Nancie and I (not to mention so many other writers) are on the same wavelength. But it is funny that storytelling is the way I naturally write yet two of my dream projects (writing a novel and writing the “story” of my life) are both stuck somewhere in my head, refusing to come out. Why? Because they start with nothing? From nowhere? Whereas an “article” begins with a premise, an object that, no matter our writing style, already fits into a well-defined space. The more freedom we have, the wider the topic, the more difficult it seems to pin it down and give it a life. So we keep going back to that cow in the field. Your post is so simple in its concept and lesson, but it has now given me a clearer vision of why I find myself stuck in a writing rut when I try and begin those most important projects. Wonderful, thoughtful post, Monica.
A great piece of advice here Monica. When I started writing my book last September (2011) I also started to write a ‘rhyme-a-day’ on my facebook page. I am not a poet. I know a lot of poets and they spend their lives crafting poetry. I can’t write a poem to save my life but have four kids so rhyming comes easy. In order to not allow myself to use ‘writers block’ as an excuse while writing my book, I wrote a rhyme a day before 8:00am every day (still ongoing) and I finished, printed and published my first book on April 12th 2012. I hated getting out of my comfort zone. BUT it certainly worked for me! Best of luck to you with your writing endeavour! Is it fiction or non-fiction?
The story from your mom is so funny and so true, Monica! Kudos to you for forging on with your novel! That comfort zone thing is hard to get past. I saw this image on Facebook the other day and am trying to remember its message daily.
Shirley
Many, many years ago I was in a short creativity workshop for teachers. As a writing prompt, the instructor passed an oval-shaped stone around the class for everyone to see and touch. The stone was smooth and could easily be held in one hand. EVERYONE in the workshop, except one fellow, described the stone’s color, shape and size. Not much creativity reflected in what we wrote. However the one person who didn’t describe the look and feel of the stone wrote about where it had been and all the people whose feet had touched the stone over the years. His piece simply sparkled with creativity and like Monica and the cow in the meadow, I’ve never forgotten that workshop experience. It’s served as a wonderful reminder to look at a situation from a different perspective whether I’m writing something or trying to solve a problem. One workshop activity, many lessons.
The story of your mum’s classroom will stay with me for a long time. I have not only been seeing a lot of cows, but of horses and sheep, etc., all of which had four legs and loved to eat grass. Thanks so much for sharing this – maybe now I’ll be able to concentrate on the clouds, the trees and wildflowers…