Write Away Seminar Final

Travelin'Oma, Week 11, Day 1. Finals week! This is the quiz Oma gave on writing. Some answers here might not make sense unless you also take a look at the quiz.

Write Away Seminar Final

1. The power in your house goes out, and you are stuck with candles and nothing to do but think. How long could you entertain yourself just sitting?

~Hours. I'd plan, plan, plan. I’d make a mental list of all of the projects I have been wanting to do and start thinking of the best way to attack each of them. I’d also likely think of all kinds of other projects I wanted to do and figure out how to do those as well. (I’m a little bit like “If you give a mouse a cookie” when it comes to projects…)


2. You're writing and the phone rings. You:

~Answer it – I get distracted easily.


3. The person calling is one of your dearest friends, who wants to get together for brunch and a good long chat. Unfortunately, this brunch will take place during your scheduled writing time. You:

~Decide to go. You can’t always go to lunch, but you can schedule other things (like writing or laundry or most of my daily tasks) for another time.


4. You're at the restaurant with your friend when you have a fantastic idea for a novel. You:

~ Are shocked. I wouldn’t have imagined that I would think of something so great, but I am completely prepared to write it down since I carry a notebook with me everywhere. (Although, come to think of it, if I thought of something like that, I would probably have no problem recalling it later when I got home!)


5. You imagine yourself as a successful writer. What is the image that is clearest in your mind?

~Your backside glued to the chair, your cramped fingers on the keyboard, and your blurred eyes on the monitor. And for me, trying to think of something clever to write on my blog.



6. If money was no issue, what would you do with your spare time?

~Shop til I drop, then go to a fabulous used bookstore and buy thousands of dollars of books on the list to complete my perfect library. Then, after outfitting a room in my home as a library with floor to ceiling book shelves and overstuffed brown leather chairs, I would sit alone in a room full of books and read.


7. Do you have . . .

~Several emails in my inbox with the subject “blog idea:______” with each blank filled with ideas for future blog entries.


8. You figure the biggest benefit of becoming a writer is:

~The writing.


9. You read:

~You invented the term multi-tasking because reading IS your "something better to do". You usually have a book in hand no matter what else you're doing at the time.


10. You have some strong opinions about a political issue. You:

~Discuss it at length with my husband.


11. You realize you have an experience that would benefit others. You:

~Write a blog entry about it.

Essay question: Am I right for writing?

Yes… at least that’s what I want to believe. It may take me many more years of practice, but I’m starting to feel like there may be hope for me as a writer. However, my aspirations are not to be a Great American Novelist, or to write a treatise that lands me on the NY Times Best Seller List. I want to express my thoughts clearly, effectively, and with an element of wit or beauty. I want to be able to move people with the words that pour from my fingers. But I don’t need to move the masses; I just want to touch the lives of those nearest to me – to somehow change them for the better.