Now, I've always been against traditional education, something I've made clear in my posts. I've never wanted to attend college, as far as I can remember,there was never a subject that particularly attracted me.
Apart from writing, of course.
I've always wanted to do writing, to be a writer. And it was the only subject I ever loved enough to want to study it. So, naturally, I thought...well, if I'm going to go to any uni, it's going to be about writing.
Now, here, in Romania, there aren't many options when it comes to writing degrees.
So, I decided to look elsewhere and soon, my eye settled on the UK. I went to a university fair and was in awe of how many options they have – the fact that you can go and study Creative Writing seemed great.
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I began looking up universities and reading their course structure – what I would study, if I enrolled in a Creative Writing course. The titles were breathtaking, to me: Shakespeare, the poetry of Byron, the Beat generation, Irish poetry, and the best – Creative Writing workshops!
It sounded like Heaven. But I realized it wasn't....not really. See, the reason I was so pleased was that I loved all these subjects – Byron, Shakespeare etc – and the reason why I loved them was that I had studied them already!!
By myself.
I've read up on them, I've studied them online, I've participated in online courses. I'd already done those stuff. As for the workshops...really? I was going to pay 9000 pounds to go write at a school? Why, when I could write on my own?
See, I don't think you can teach writing. You've ever got a talent for it, or you don't. Same as with any art.
So, I decided against it.
Enter Steemit...
Too good to be true
When my mom, @ladyrebecca, first told me about Steemit I remember feeling very confused. So, you got to write whatever you wanted and people would read your stuff and you might even get paid for it.
Wow.
It sounds like a dream. What any writer dreams of hearing. Write for us and people will read your work. And you might even get paid.
So, I joined Steemit instead, and looking back – I realize I've made the right choice.
1. You get a lot of feedback
You don't depend on one particular teacher to review your writing. Everyone is subjective and a student really shouldn't have to suffer or think they're a bad writer just because the teacher doesn't like their writing.
On Steemit, you get feedback from every corner of the world and from all sorts of people – some agree, some don't. You can listen to all sides and take suggestions. There's way more variation then what you'd get in a classroom.
2. Write, write, write!
Sure, you don't have to post something every day. But you want to. Steemit is very much like a drug, in that respect. You start writing to build a page and to know others, and pretty soon, you find you can't stop. You say you won't post today, but then you find yourself scribbling away a few ideas.
“Just a short post, I promise...”
And your friends and family become worried about you and are probably planning an intervention, 'cause you're always on your laptop and you're always writing and they think it might go to your brain.
That is, if your friends and family aren't already on Steemit themselves, of course.
I'm sure you know what I'm talking about.
So, Steemit makes you write. A LOT.
And you write about so many different things. Because you don't want to milk it – you can't write about one single subject all day, every day, because people might stop reading. So, you rack your brains and discover all these exciting new ideas you didn't know were in there and you hit the keyboard.
It's an amazing progress. Now, I'll bet you that the average Steemian writes more than a Creative Writing student in one year. And I'm not talking class notes, nope, just the stuff that comes from your head.
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3. The good, the bad and the weird
This gets me to my next point, you get to explore. Not just around the world, by talking and reading strangers' posts, but around your own head. As I said, you find exciting new ideas every day. Things you didn't know you were interested in. Weird thoughts that come out in the middle of the night and you write them down...'cause who knows, maybe someone else has them, too.
This is something that no workshop can teach you, I believe. Although they should. Just think how much you have learned about yourself by writing on Steemit, look at all the posts. I look back and I'm like when did I write that?
I think this should be mandatory for every creative writing teacher – just have your students write whatever is in their heads, whether they can't stop thinking about the cute girl next door, global economy, a randomly strange fiction story etc. Don't focus on what they write, or on structure or other stuff like that. Focus on production, on quantity. And variety, of course.
It's how you see what you're capable of – by writing whatever comes in your head.
4. Read, baby!
Stephen King (horror author and my own personal hero) once said that
“If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write.”
And I believe that's true, based on personal experience. I need to read a lot to feed my brain, my creativity. If I don't, my writing suffers, my ideas suffer, I just can't do it. Now, Steemit should not replace a balanced diet of novels, short stories, poetry etc. Despite the fact that you can find all those things on Steemit.
But the one thing you do do a lot – besides writing – here, on Steemit, is read. You have to read, in order to make new friends, to bring readers to your own blog. And you want to read, because you get to love the community and want to know what your friends think, what they have to say. You're exposed to a wider range of content than in any bookstore, in the world. Insane, scientific, fictional, lovey-dovey, banal, excellent, short and witty – we've got it all, baby.
5. The dough
I can't believe I almost forgot this. I was so engrossed in all the great features of Steemit I forgot about the money. It seems like a crucial detail, I know, but it's not, as anyone on Steemit will agree.
Well, not anyone – there are of course the scammers, spammers etc. But most people here are decent people who're here for content, not money. Which is amazing, really. I mean, everyone likes the money, sure. But most folks aren't here just for that. Most are here for the community.
Think about that – a community of friends, who are free to write what they want and talk about anything, and they get paid for that.
It's incredible. Aaand it's something I doubt you get to do, while in uni. Well, not due to the university, anyhow. Besides, uni takes up a whole load of time, so not as much to spend on Steemit.
I cashed out some money back in December, when SBD and Bitcoin were rocket-high and it filled me with a sense of incredible pride. I actually won money for my writing. It was like a sort of pay. And it wasn't due to some deal with a magazine or a publishing house, it was money from peers who had liked my posts.
And it wasn't something petty like 5 bucks, it was a pretty decent sum. Especially for someone who has never earned from writing before.
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It's a fantastic motivation for young writers and a great incentive. You get paid because people like what you write – a pretty good sign that you're on the right track.
I believe you learn by doing and that this goes for pretty much anything, but especially for art. You can't learn art by sitting in a classroom.
You learn by creating.
Thank you for reading! Steem on!
