Name's Nick. Someday, I'll be a real writer.

So here’s the skinny on my life so far: I dropped out of school this semester, got an apartment and I’m now enjoying a good helping of personal freedom. While we were smoking outside, my roomie told me: “So now you’re another college drop-out. There go your dreams.” 

I took a really long drag from my cigarette, watched the smoke disappear into the power lines overhead, turned to my roomie and said: “Yeah, but I dropped out with 160 credit hours. How many did you accumulate before dropping out?” School’s important. I get that. Hell, I’ve been on overdrive for the past three years, but I wanted to pursue my own “life affirming” goals this semester. That’s why I started this blog. It’s a chance for me to let my mind go, and provide timely advice and information to other writers as I encounter it.

During my undergraduate studies it became clear to me that many student writers suffer from a communication sickness that causes us to misread the actions of others; what gets lost between the synapses in our brains and the flapping of our gums? The more pertinent question to this blog is: what gets lost between the synapses in our brains and the keyboard, the Moleskin notebook, the manuscript we’ve been pouring over for years? I don’t have the answers, but I’m determined to find out how to communicate my message in a clear, relatable manner.

"So now you're another college drop-out. There go your dreams" - My Roomie.

As a reader I only like guesswork that’s intentional; I think that’s true of most readers. As a writer, I’ve decided to live by the Three Cs: Concision, Clarity and Creativity. What sets an amateur apart from a professional? What sets a professional apart from an artist? CRAFT and how much time an individual devotes to it.  But there also needs to be a hint of talent, inspiration and most importantly a desire to make your readers care about what you have to say. That’s a cosmological challenge in itself. From the technical to the sublime craft percolates through every grain of our vocation to write. My craft is young, a 16 year old trying to light his first cigarette behind the gym. 

It’s a self-immolating path, to write. Most of us abandoned our psychological and financial well being when we decided that our stories are worth reading. Ego plays an important role in this pursuit but it needs to take a back seat to our reader’s interests. Make your first sentence into an irresistible sales sign, hold your reader’s hands as they walk through the convenience store of your language and make them look at a box of Q-tips in a new way; then you’ll have them, then you’ll be more than just a good communicator, you’ll be memorable – at least that’s what I’ve been told. I’m not much a talented writer, but I am determined to be memorable and in the process I want to reach out to the throngs of writers who, like me, agonize over every other word.  A little input from writers who type gold into every page wouldn’t hurt either.

After my comment, my roomie said something witty back to me that I’ve since forgotten and we both laughed. Later that night we started watching Breaking Bad; I’ve made it to the fourth season since. I think that show exemplifies so much of what I’ve learned about writing. The plot stands out of the character’s way and at the end of each episode I find myself dying for more. I want to write like I’m cooking meth, construct sentences like I’m breaking bad and deliver an end product as addictive as crystal blue.