Writing: Straightforward and short works for me. Does it for you?
When someone asked me the other day what I write, I answered with confidence, “I write short-form creative nonfiction.” It tripped off my tongue as if I knew what I was talking about and, after the past 28 months or so of writing, sharing, submitting and experiencing both rejections and acceptances, I guess that I do. That’s the beauty of experiential learning: Do it (whatever ‘it’ is), put yourself out there, and learn from the results. It ’ s more fun to succeed (i n my case, be published) than to not succeed (I hesitate to use the word “fail”), but I have probably learned more from the pieces that have been rejected than I have from those that have been accepted. My style is uncomplicated. I aim to inform, to enlighten or to inspire. I sometimes play with the form in which I present my writing, but usually it’s straightforward (beginning, middle, end). Short is beautiful: There is so much to read in this world of ours; more words are being pumped out into the universe virtually eve...