Evaluating Your Creative Writing Life

“They who give have all things; they who withhold have nothing”
Hindu Proverb

Yesterday I didn’t post because I was finishing my self evaluation for last semester. This is harder than it sounds. What did you learn, how did you learn it, and how do you live what you’ve learned in your community and the world. Goddard has a very social context to its learning style. Normal college you just learn something, give it back in the form of papers and tests and then you’re done. Goddard expects and encourages students to give back. Most of the time I use my blog for this, I also participate as a writer and a poet in my local community and I hope to share my creative writing with the world when I get published. It seems like a lot to think about when you’re just writing. But if you think about it the really outstanding writers, poets and creative people gave something back to the world and we’re still using their work to be inspired, to think more creatively and to better ourselves. Yesterday I read a blog post that said bloggers aren’t really creative writers…what? I am constantly inspired by bloggers who give back to the world by writing about their creative lives.

Today, think about your last year of writing. What have you learned? How did you learn it? And how do you give back to your writing community? When I first started writing I was amazed how other writers reached out and helped me, giving me all the tools to be a successful writer, cheering me when I succeeded and commiserating with me when I got rejected. Now I get it. We’re all in this together. By helping each other we help ourselves. Now get back to work!

Thanks to all who commented on the Chinese New Year post, any reason to celebrate another new beginning works for me.

My collage from last semester.
P.S. There are two sentences in this post using the magic of three.

Lovingly,
The Writing Nag