When I was a teen, I wrote newspaper articles for a club I was a member of, the FFA. I was the reporter and it was my job to tell the world (or at least our little part of it) about club happenings. My articles were published in small papers designated for individual neighborhoods in our city (Bee Papers, The Metro, and for my neighborhood- The Riverside Review) and one even made it into the big newspaper in our city (The Buffalo News). My writing was included in a county-wide agricultural paper too. That year at the FFA NY State convention, I was awarded the State Reporter's award. A huge deal for me! I applied to two different colleges: one for journalism, one for Floriculture Merchandising.
I went to college for floriculture, got married, started my wedding flower business and started a family. I started writing again but this time I was drawn to fiction. It started as something I just did cause an idea popped into my head. But quickly this new found passion grew and in record time I finished an epic novel. It was only the beginning for me and once again I craved publication.
I tried to write non-fiction again and found it to be incredibly difficult. The only pieces I wrote that satisfied me at all were about topics I knew A LOT about...things that were dear to my heart. All the research in the world didn't help either...I just did not have the gusto that is needed to make an article great.
Do you excel in fiction or non-fiction or can you do both well??
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I've written some non-fiction for a local magazine, but it wasn't my favorite. I think I did a decent job of it tho!
ReplyDeleteHey, this is crazy. I was also a devoted member of the FFA organization. :) I was chapter president a few times and district reporter. I really liked it, but I definitely prefer writing fiction to the articles I did as the reporter. I almost went into foriclture but instead, I'm choosing to be an agriculture teacher.
ReplyDeleteI love to read non-fiction, but I don't write it. Writing is my time to be creative and I don't feel like non-fiction fills that requirement. Plus, it makes me feel like I'm in college again. I loved college, but I'm glad I don't have to write papers any more!
ReplyDeleteHmm...I've tried my hand at both and I'm still not sure which I'm best at. I'm not particularaly fond of all the research that comes with non-fiction...but then sometimes fiction is hard when I mostly rely on my own imagination..which...sometimes..is rather scary. XD When it comes to reading though..I prefer fiction. Haha...sorry for the ramble there. XD
ReplyDeleteI tend to jump back and forth pretty comfortably between the two - must be the English teacher in me! ;)
ReplyDeleteI love mainly fiction, though I freelanced for my paper for a bit. Fun stuff! I was writing interesting stories about people though, so in a sense it was close to fiction.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your journey! It's awesome that you got that award. :-)