Writers love to bounce. We enjoy hopping throughout different lifestyles to find which ones are worth keeping around and which ones are worth moving on from. Example, I was into the innate reasoning behind fetishism as according Freud a few weeks ago. That one didn’t stick for very long, but did influence one of my classroom discussion board posts. Sorry to all of those that read my post that week. Also example, Last winter I decided to pursue that tiny voice in my head that was always wanting to try acting. That one stuck. I took some acting classes at my University and noticed something peculiar…I looked forward to school and I was…happy.
Here’s the thing about writers: We always have this inner narrative monologue running. Kind of like a teleprompter, but it’s all improvised. We are trying to make sense of the world and constantly trying to put it in words. Acting took that away. I didn't realize how loud my own background noise was until I had to force it to shut up. I’ve been writing since I was 9, so this ambiguous and annoying voice has always been there, just like, reflecting on random thoughts. Do I sound like an absolute nutcase yet? Probably. Anyway, acting took this away and forced me to be present. I could no longer sit back and evaluate everything and search for that one misplaced tile’s metaphor about the meaning of life. I had to be there and I had to do something and say someone else’s words. Thank God. And yet, with all this being said, I need writing. I need to read and I need to evaluate everything. When I am not writing an annoying piece like this one, I’ll write some lyrics and set them to some badly executed power chords on my mid-priced Fender guitar. I need to write like I need to breathe. It’s like this relationship that is rocky, but you can’t give it up yet. Some days I abhor the thought of writing something down and some days I will document everything that happens—a phone call, they way someone said my name, how I felt about the way they said my name, if it was raining. The last one is usually a no because I live in the desert, but you get where I’m going.
What really frustrated me going into college was this idea that you had to pick one thing to love and then the next four years would be all about that one thing. “You can’t do it all” then I’d say, “Wanna bet?” Conclusion: Yes, you can in fact do whatever the hell you want to do. You may not be the Andy Warhol of everything you decide to do, but you can do it and you can try. I’ve always thought that I can only choose one thing and I would always have to decide between acting, writing, photography, and music. I don’t. I can do them all. If some sort of career-thingie comes from doing one then great, I’ll keep at it. If not, then great, now I’ll really keep at it! Don’t put yourself in a box, especially if even a tiny morsel of your being enjoys writing. Writers like to do it all. So, keep doing you cause who’s going to stop you? Just be sure whatever you do is morally just, for the sake of humanity.
