Faithwalk: The Hungry Writer

A few days ago, I read an article in Chronicles in Education about writing. The author listed several tips for aspiring writers. In my own words, he suggested: write as often as possible, read what you want to write, explore different genres, know the rules so you can break the rules, don’t expect friends and family to understand your weird creative moments, and remain hungry so you continue to write.

I consider myself a hungry writer. During the past few decades, I’ve been wrestling with my writing, from creating and editing, polishing to publishing. I feel like Jacob wrestling with God, and will not let go until God blesses me.

And in the past five years, I slowly wrote as I put my energies into academia as contingent lecturer moving from adjunct to temporary full-time instructor of English teaching three to five classes a semester. Even a hungry writer needs to eat. A hungry writer scribes at whatever the cost. Sometimes writing early in the morning, late into the night, on the bus, on the train, in the parking lot, at the desk, on the table, in the bed.

In May of this year, I decided to resurrect my writing life. Some weekends, I stayed in the house glued to the laptop, printing pages for editing and revising.  I started this blog with a goal of writing weekly without pay in mind but discipline to writing weekly. During the summer, I wrote the blog posts and posted weekly no matter where I stayed: California, Virginia, Panama Beach.  At home I searched writing markets, gathered work that needed revision, submitted to magazines. I was immersed, hungry to write, hungrier to publish at whatever cost. My hunger for writing left my refrigerator empty on many occasions. I even posted an empty fridge on Facebook last week.

Yet my hunger for writing cannot overshadow my need for love. This is the advice the author gave in the Chronicles of Education article about writing: Remember to love your family, love your friends, love yourself. Love ignites creativity.