I am going to be a writer.

Here at King's, every MCA (Media, Culture and the Arts - my major) senior has the option of completing a "project" in lieu of a final thesis paper. This can take as many forms as one's imagination allows -- directing or writing a script for a film or theatre production, presenting a portfolio of photography or traditional artwork, using digital media to create a company's entire brand identity, etc.

I struggled for quite some time about to do. Ideally, I would choose a project that would later serve as an example of my work for future employers in my desired field, or I would choose to write a thesis that would be used as an example of my writing for graduate school admission. The only problem is that I don't really have a desired field yet, nor do I have any specific skills that I have developed over the course of my time at King's, nor do I have any intention of entering into a graduate degree program (see my previous post entitled Saying Goodbye to My Dreams of an M.A. for more on that decision).

Eventually, I stopped trying to figure out what I should do and instead tried to pay attention to what I wanted to do -- write a memoir.

I've never written creative non-fiction before, and it's terrifying! How do I explain the man my dad was? How do I show the full complexity of the characters in this story when I don't even know them fully myself? How do I create something of significance for the reader and not just an historical record that doesn't actually mean anything?

But I met with one of my professors today (the one who's going to advise me through this process, God bless her), and she was so incredibly encouraging. She suggested I take a year to write this, instead of a single semester because of the unexpected challenges that arise from writing non-fiction. She also gave me a list of books to read. Some were technical writing books (yay!), but some were a list of memoirs she recommended I read. I want to read as much of the genre as possible before even attempting to write it.

The other interesting thing she said was just to try and write this summer. She said it doesn't matter if it's good (it probably won't be), but writing and writing and writing will get all of the bad writing out of my system and help me find the true story underneath. I'm going to give myself a goal like, "Write 500 words every day, no matter what," and see where that gets me. At least it will keep me from making stupid writer's block excuses, and I think it will be a good exercise, even though I know I won't use most of it in the final piece.

So I don't know what this is going to look like. I don't know whether it will be my story, or my dad's story, or my family's story, or something else entirely. That will have to be discovered along the way. But the burden has presented itself. And now I must write.