Half Starts and Trail Offs

Signs you’re a bonafide writer

Feb 24

MeredithUncategorized micky ballerina balogna, poems that suck, Woody Allen 3 Comments

I watched Vicky Cristina Barcelona this weekend. I loved it, which is no surprise. I have a thing for Woody Allen’s sense of humor. I also have a thing for Spain. And Javier Bardem. And well, Penelope Cruz definitely deserved that Oscar. But more than anything, the character of Cristina, who seems to be trying on different personas and artistic outlets, reminded me of myself.

I’m always doubting myself and my writing. Even I’m getting tired of hearing it. Perhaps it’s part of my mysterious, writerly persona. Perhaps it’s just obnoxious and I need to get over it.

With that in mind, I’ve been trying to decide how you know when you’re a writer, some real road signs that will shut up my inner skeptic. I think I found one today.

I wrote a poem. And it sucked. And I didn’t care. It didn’t say what I wanted to. It’s not particularly original and the imagery isn’t so hot. But it doesn’t matter. Because I wrote it for no other reason than that I needed and wanted to. And because I’ll keep rewriting it till it’s right. And that’s it, right there. That realization that just getting something on paper is an accomplishment accompanied by the unabashed recognition that revision is just a part of the process.