A Writing Wake Up Call
/If there is a legend, there is a woman behind it. #fact
I was a huge "Little House on the Prairie" fan, and to a young girl growing up, the adventures on the prairie were real. With anticipation, the family recently visited Walnut Grove and the Ingalls Homestead. I discovered there that the books and television series were not all real. Characters were added, scenes were created, and - get this - Mary never got married. Hmph!
Talk about shattered realities (and just a tad bit of drama.) Nonetheless, I was intrigued enough by what I saw to want to know more about the real Laura Ingalls Wilder. I picked up a book from the gift shop, "Becoming Laura Ingalls Wilder: The Woman Behind the Legend."
Laura Ingalls Wilder was an extraordinary woman. Although her story is very engaging, my take aways from the book had less to do with her life or her legend and more to do with her growth as a writer:
- She didn't start writing until the age of forty-four.
- She started off "looking for items that were unusual or unique. Later, as she discovered possibilities existing in the common things that could be observed everyday, she never lacked for subjects."
- She carved out time to write and "became a disciplined writer able to produce throughtful, readable prose for a general audience and to meet regular deadlines."
- She wrote stories and her editor (her daughter) "shaped the material into publishable form."
Writers write. I know that writing is challenging. I know that, like anything else, growth as as writer takes committment. It did then, it does now. #fact The thing is, I want writing to be easier, to come easier, to - at times - be anything but what it really is. #fiction
So, straight from the very place where fact and fiction intermingle, I got a writing wake up call from the little house on the prairie.
