#3. “Writing is very hard and bad for your health,” – a writing professor at the New School, New York, N.Y.
Back when I dreamed of becoming I writer, I took a course on fiction writing at the New School. This was so many years ago that I’ve forgotten the name of the teacher, but I’ve not forgotten him. He strode into the classroom, took up a piece of chalk and scrawled his message across the blackboard.
“Writing is very hard and bad for your health.”
He wrote this at the beginning of every class, and then stared back at us, his students, eyes narrowed daring the feeble hearted to get up and leave. No one budged for quite some time, but by the end of the course very few remained.
I seldom turned in an assignment to this teacher that he didn’t select it as an example to hold up before the class. This was done anonymously, so only the gulping of my breath; the beating of my heart, or the sudden flushing of my cheeks would give me away. His style was to praise first, words of glory and bright expectation, and then rip to kill. I would slink from the class, vowing to never write another word.
Fortunately, I learned early in life to think for myself, and so I interpreted his warning to suit me. In my experience, working at something you don’t like to do but have to do in order to survive is very hard. Writing is a calling. I don’t mean it’s a high and virtuous profession, but if writing calls you, you cannot help but answer. If you develop a habit to write everyday, writing will provide you with the energy, passion, and imagination it takes to get its stories told through you. Writing will become irresistible.
Also, because of this teacher, I determined I would not allow writing to be bad for my health. I walk three miles a day, do yoga each morning, and lift weights at the gym three times a week. I meditate every day. I’m twenty years into my writing life and I’m fit for many more.
Thank you, dear writing teacher at the New School.
chistinagreenaway.com
P. CHRISTINA GREENAWAY 