My English professor sorted through a stack of books on his desk in his poorly-lit office, searching for an anthology that had a story he wanted me to read. We were meeting to talk about my creative writing, but as my time at college was coming to a close, he asked the question that near graduates at once look forward to but dread too. “Have you thought about what you want to do after college?”
I sat straight up in the hard back chair. “I want to write,” I told him. I opened my mouth to say more about that, but before I could, he stopped sorting through the books, brushed the white hair out of his eyes, and looked at me through his bottleglass frames.
“No. No, you don’t want that,” he told me.
My heart thudded in my chest. My hopes felt dashed. Was he talking about my ability as a writer? Did he not believe I could make it as a writer based on the stories I’d written in class? Or the essays I’d done for his literature courses?
Before I could speak up in my defense — although, I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure how to respond — he clarified. “Don’t make writing your living otherwise you may run out of words. You’ll tap the well dry.” Shortly after that, he found the book and paged to an Alice Munro story he wanted me to read. That part of the convo was over, but for years I turned his words over in my head. My career has, so far, gone through a series of odd jobs as I attempted to find my footing, although many jobs I took on related to writing in some shape or another; through it all, his words were always at the back of the mind.
It took me over a decade to actually put his words in perspective. In one sense, I get where he was coming from. In another, I totally disagree. Let me explain…
It was the best advice I could receive in terms of my creative writing, because it’s been my experiences – my odd jobs, the people I’ve met, my travels – that have encouraged my writing. If I worked in a strictly writing-only environment, there would have been so much that I would have missed out on.
But it was also the worst advice in the sense that I will never ever run out of words. In fact, the more I write, the more the words flow. That goes for my professional freelance work, as well as my (for now) personal creative work. The more I write, the more words I have. My well of words will never run dry.
It’s funny that a professor of literature, one that taught words and stories for a living, would offer this bit of “wisdom,” but I’m thankful for it too. It was at once the best and worst writing advice I’ve ever received.
What’s the best and/or worst writing tip you’ve ever had?
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