Write your heart out!

Joyce Carol Oates letter to writers essentially told us to write anything our hearts desire. In her letter she even states "Write your hearts out. Never be ashamed of your subject, and of your passion for your subject." She also tells us to not to judge. Her advice to us is to try a book out that is "against the grain of your taste" that way we can appreciate different types of novels.

After reading this letter, I realized that I have been limiting myself in writing. I've always had the fear that people will judge me if I expressed my true feelings. Reading this letter made me see that I should write about the things I want to express; I shouldn't care if others judge me. I mean Poe wrote about murder, tragedy, and "irrevocable, unspeakble act[s]." I mean sure people judged him, but in a good way. He's a renown writer now. Hey, who knows if write what I want to, maybe people will even like it.

In my opinion I think Annie Lamont's article, "Shitty First Drafts", is what influence my sense of writing and story. Lamont made me see that almost every author goes through this stage of writing (the shitty first draft). I shouldn't be afraid of it because eventually through editing my piece will be better. I just have to be patient. I could panic here and there, but with enough work my piece will be decent.