Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Apparantly I'm not the only one

Look what I found!

Even CNN is touting the chocolaty goodness of letter writing.

a five year road block

So, I should probably mention that one really big thing has been standing in my way of writing anything even remotely approaching pleasant and prose-like. That thing is called a thesis. A big, long, icky, boring and LONG thesis. When I entered grad school I thought writing a thesis was the coolest thing ever. I mean how awesome would it be to put on your resume that you researched something of your choosing and then wrote up a fabulous article about everything you discovered? Super right? Amazing? Awe-inspiring! So not. Anyone who tells you that individual research is the best way to spend your twenties is LYING. It is true that most embark on this "adventure" with much excitement, thinking that they will learn a great deal and come out on the other end a smarter, more well-rounded person. Well I can tell you for sure that you do, eventually, come out the other end. And you are smarter, but you're smarter in way you wish you weren't. Knowing, unequivocally, that there were about a million OTHER things you would have rather been doing with your time. Like sleeping, and drinking, and basically doing anything else besides writing and correcting and being miserable.

That my good readers was how I spent the greater part of my twenties, in fact, I only just finished. Let me tell you it was a rude slap in the face when I breezed through three years of grueling (but interesting) classes and then stagnated for the next THREE years trying to finish my project. I complained to anyone who would listen, and yes I recognize that was probably not the best use of my time, but come on! more than five years and countless sleepless nights adds up to a lot to complain about and even more to be miserable over. From this I learned two important lessons:

1) enough booze with good friends can fix almost anything, including having your manuscript rejected for possibly the 100th time and,
2) I don't ever want to write a thesis again. Ever.

Strangely I have not given up on the idea of possibly pursuing a Ph.D, which, I know, includes writing a dissertation. However, I see two big differences between my quest for this degree and my previous one.

1) I know what I am getting myself into and,
2) a dissertation is generally of the length and breadth of the thesis I have already written, which, my advisers said, was too long and too detailed. So sue me.

Imagine my disgust when I went to the holding case for all the theses written by people in my department and found ones that were approximately THIRTY pages. THIRTY. DIE UNDERACHIEVERS DIE.

So, to me anyway, it is relatively easy to see why writing has not been on the forefront of my mind. Regardless, I did find, towards the end of my tenure at Casa de Crazy Thesis Writers, that writing to people I actually liked, about subject matter that I actually enjoyed, was pleasurable, and was something I should have done more of. Imagine that.

I suppose that my desire to rediscover writing for pleasure was born out of my disgust with writing for distinction, or merely because I had to. I do wonder sometimes if that is how paid writers feel, shut up in their towers trying desperately to come up with the next paragraph in their 40 chapter book. Just thinking about that makes me shudder. A lot. Poor J.K. Rowling...actually no, she's shut up in her Scottish tower, a billionaire, having created Harry Potter. Harry freakin' Potter, sympathy isn't coming her way just yet.

So yes, my writing will now commence. I am busily deciding who will be graced with my first letter. I am torn between having it be someone important, in the sense that it's someone I want to reconnect with, or someone to which I have something profound to say, or having it just be to someone random to which I would normally shoot.

Decisions...

Tuesday, June 22, 2010

and so it begins...

When I look back, I chuckle a bit knowing that this project of mine is based on something I used to hate doing. Once upon a time I was a young girl that wanted nothing more than to receive birthday and Christmas gifts that were something other than stationary. I used to think it was some sort of sick joke - giving me paper and pens and thank you cards - sort of like a not-so-subtle nudge that I was supposed to turn around and use those gifts to write and give my effusive thanks and boundless gratitude for a present I really didn't want or understand why I was given.

From an extremely early age my mother instilled in me the importance of writing. Not just writing thank you cards, that was always a given, but writing actual letters to others. I've seen her do this frequently, in fact this habit is one of the earliest memories I have of her, and she continues it today, most recently writing to every single person that came to her father's funeral only two months ago.

Until recently my desire for sitting down and actually writing to people had nearly evaporated. I remember vividly in high school having various notebooks that were passed around among my best girl friends with various bits of gossip scribbled in between the pages. At one point I recall some really horrible poetry, as well as an homage to our hated band teacher set to the tune of "Speed Racer," ahhh, the memories. Despite my foray into the world of creative writing, and I use that word extremely loosely, the advent of things like Instant Messenger and email (EMAIL! INSTANT! FREE!) virtually extinguished my need for letter writing. I find it bizarre that I can remember my first IM screenname (Rosie222) and email address (the same at good 'ol hotmail.com) as well as the first computer I did both of these things on (Dell P60, oh baby), but I can't remember the last actual letter I wrote, which horrifyingly, wasn't that long ago, but I have a suspicion was so short and pointless it probably wasn't worth writing to begin with.

Which is what leads me to my current adventure. Having acquired a new obsession with stationary (and yes, people really do come full circle) I want to find a way to start using some of the stuff I have acquired, AND to use up some of what I've had for years. Literally...decades. The purpose of my project is pretty simple, write 365 letters in the space of a year. I don't have to do one a day, though I suppose that would make sense, but then again, life happens and there are days I forget to do things that I've been doing everyday for years (hello brush my teeth) so I figure, as long as I am getting them written and I'm relatively close to my goal I will be a happy camper.

I'm not sure where all of these letters will go, I suppose I'll start with the obvious and branch out. I do know one thing though, each will be hand written and each will be chronicled. Which for me, will result in an interesting library of people I've written to and things I've written about, as well as a memorial (I mean they eventually WILL be thrown away) of some of the coolest stationary EVER, some of which I love so much I don't want to write on. But I will, after all it is for a good cause.