writing about something...

Today we have our annual Books in Bloom Literary Festival here in Eureka Springs. It is a wonderful event at which readers can meet writers, buy books, and get to the heart of the matter. Some of the authors write fiction, others write of their own experiences. You can find a list of authors Here.

I am kind of partial to how-to writers. Fiction writers tend to carry you away from your own lives for purposes of entertainment. Non-fiction writers often leave you incapable of actually doing anything to resolve the matters at hand. How-to writers are the ones who really help to bring real changes in our own lives. Their work is actually brought to fulfillment when readers have taken matters into their own hands.

As the husband of a co-founder, I was involved this morning in set-up and will be there as photographer throughout the day.

Yesterday on NPR, I listened to an educator describing how learning can grow in spirals that touch upon every discipline, moving in sequence from one to the next. That sounds like one more over-complicated formula to systematize learning. But the idea does express the interrelationship between all things.

I received an inquiry from a recent graduate, an English major, who wanted to build up her resume by writing a guest entry for my blog. On the other hand, I've always thought that writing was best when one wrote about things about which a person has both expertise and passion. Write and write and write, and just as with any other craft, one will get better at it... But is being a good writer enough?

If one were to hope to become a good writer, the best starting point would be to have something significant to write about. Check out the arts, music, drama, actual physical engagement in doing real things. Whether fiction, non-fiction, or how-to, writing is best when based on one's own experience.

Make, fix and create...