Friday, September 7, 2007

Hello Writers,

"I tell a story the way some people eat an Oreo cookie."
--B. E. Zalman

Did your parents want you to be something? Did they want you to be, say a math teacher and you wanted to be an astronaut?
Write about who you were and who you wanted to be.

My parents told me that I couldn't be a vet because I wasn't very good in science. I told them that I could be good but wasn't that interested. My mom said that if I was going to be a vet I'd better get interested. She also said that seeing how I liked to play school when I was young I should be a teacher. I thought that if I couldn't spell I couldn't be a teacher. So we went around this all through my jr. high and high school years. I really loved art and they told me that there was no way to make any money doing art. As a kid I didn't really care if I made money or not. I guess that's because I didn't need any at the time.
My parents told me to pick something and I couldn't. I liked a lot of things and was interested in many other things. But I didn't know what I should do.
I went to Europe just out of high school and that help me decide. I wanted to be an artist. The idea that I could die penniless and alone worried me though. Things where pretty good in the 60s and 70s for artist. But I was no Peter Max -- just a want-a be. So I settled on graphic arts. Wound up silk screening circuit boards for Xerox. Not anywhere close to what I really wanted to do or what I studied.
What did you do when your parents told you that they thought you should be a ...
Getting to know ourselves and who we are helps us write better. I remember this from Barbara Ed Marco-Barrett.
Set your timers for 15 minutes and write.

Have a great weekend. Do some writing and enjoy the cool weather.
Aleta

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