Description
If I were going to be completely honest with you, I would tell you—straight up—that, even though I’m a writer, even after earning an MFA, even after years of bringing shape to idea after idea … writing is still scary.
I mean that sometimes I’ll stumble upon gorgeous phrases in books, in poems, stare at those engorged words, inhale the meter, and … freeze up.
Honestly, it’s brilliant simplicity that WOWs me. It’s the courage of the writer who dared to pick up a pencil and write the true idea. No need to put the brain through the cheese-grater-of-parsing-and-deconstructing. This only ever leads to exhaustion. Leaving me confused. Stupid feeling. When I read words (when I write them too) I do not want to be left dumb. I want to be left dumbfounded. I want to be speechless. Astonished. I want my jaw to drop. A smile. Tears to flow, even.
So why do I continue to write—and read—and love—words?
Why do I encourage students to read—and write—and appreciate words?
Because ideas matter.
“Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart,” said William Wordsworth. And Hemingway declared, “Good writing is true writing.” But Robert Frost reminds us: “No tears in the writer, no tears in the reader. No surprise in the writer, no surprise in the reader.”
So, yes … writing is scary. Complicated gorgeousness is scary. But is it worth it? Is stumbling upon phrases that resonate with you, learning about the wide world, and delving into the corridors of imagination worth it? Absolutely.
The writing you are about to read is wonder-FULL writing from the heart that sings: “Look! We can write for real!”
This writing did not swell forth from lessons based in a mechanical endeavor.
This writing began with ideas sparking above the heads of young writers like coruscating stars spilling possibility.
May you be WOWed as you inhale the wonder of their words.
Kimberly Bredberg, MFA
Blackbird & Company, Founding Partner
Reveal, Editor in Chief
