Bob's Write from the Start: The Semplica Girl Diaries

Bob's Write from the Start

Bob’s Write from the Start, a blog sharing the roller coaster ride of this renewing writer’s feelings and actual experiences, began March 2017. That January, I began with a two-sentence contribution to a local Writing Group. I am now a Guest Columnist for a local paper and have contributed to small and online magazines. My comments for new and renewing writers? Start by starting. Join a writing group. You are unique but not alone. Once you start work, you will not be in Kansas anymore.

Tuesday, March 2, 2021

The Semplica Girl Diaries

Everyone has his or her own individual path towards fulfillment as a writer.

If I were searching for the most banal yet truest statement about developing as a quality writer, that would be it. There are nevertheless those who point to a particular technique or example or principle and say, "That's what good writing is all about." You can be certain these folks, experienced and excellent as they may be, are talking through their collective hats.

Often these same writers offer excellent advice. I'm beginning to think the most concrete feedback on a particular piece of writing is the most useful.

For me, I am at a\the point in my own apprenticeship when I am attracted to re-visiting some of my previous work with a view to improving it with whatever new skills I have developed over the past while. At the same time, I am also attracted to other writers whose work I am better able to appreciate now than before.

Alice Munro (how wonderful she is. (I know you're sick of me referring to her.)

David Bergen as I mentioned in previous posts.

And now, I have surprised myself by enjoying and admiring George Saunders. I am halfway through reading his short story "The Semplica Girl Diaries" in his book of short stories "Tenth of December". This is another example of what is possible to do -- I am unlikely to try to emulate it but its existence expands the possible.

The fact that he worked on this story for "more than a dozen years" also makes him my kind of guy.

So, it's tempting for me to say, "So what you should do is review your previous work to revise it with your new skills; and read tons of writers who are new to you." That might make me sound like an expert and I am fully aware of how new writers struggle to locate a checklist of the right answers so they too can be published and fulfilled. They pay for courses and workshops editors and practice writing sites and what-not. These can be helpful for certain. The same ones, though, are not similarly helpful for all writers.

And none of them, none of them, are magic.

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About Me

Name: Bob's Write From The Start

Location: Sarnia, Ontario, Canada

Born, raised and living in Sarnia, Ontario, Bob Boulton began writing poetry, short stories and humorous articles for his high school newspaper in the period just after dinosaurs roamed the earth. His article on the mysteries of the Chess Club was particularly well-received. Bob’s excruciatingly naive teenage sonnet was published with positive mention in the high school yearbook. In University he wrote pretty much indecipherable essays on Existentialism and Phenomenology. Then, early in his working career, Bob also wrote short feature articles in the now-defunct (not his fault) Weston York Times. For this, he was paid $5.00 per article, which didn’t quite cover his transportation and parking costs. Then after a short break of thirty-five or forty years as an executive and leadership coach, Bob reactivated his passion for writing. The alternatives he considered were learning to yodel or trying to play the bagpipes. Bob’s loving and supportive family voted enthusiastically, and quickly, for writing.