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| Imagine the strains of "Inagoddadavida" blasting from the bell of The Angel Moroni's horn. It gives a whole new perspective to the supposed end of times. |
While it's the very last thing in the world I have time for, I'm making a brief forage into the word of writing fiction. Midterms are almost upon me, and I really shouldn't be staying awake at night typing silly works of pseudo-literature, but it's often what I want to do. My dad says that's the way things are. The busier a person is with the things he or she absolutely must do, like studying medical school texts, memorizing flashcards with medical acronyms, and other such essentials of my life as a medical school student, the more a person's mind's creative juices flow. If a person ever wants to do anything creative, as in perhaps paint, write, compose, or whatever, the desire or inspiration will come when he or she is most likely swamped with non-negotiable things in his or her life. My dad says either you carve out a bit of time for the creative outlet or you don't, but you keep in mind what is really important and what are your priorities, and you don't risk your grades in medical school fr a mere hobby unless you're more seriously considering becoming a full-time writer than a doctor.
For the record, I have no intention whatsoever of giving up my future medical career to write The Great American Novel, or even to write The Mediocre American Novel. Writing for me will never be much more than a diversion or a creative outlet. All medicine and no creativity whatsoever, be it music or writing, would make Alexis a very dull person and probably a lousy physician or surgeon as well. Good doctors need more than a single dimension to their lives.
I usually consider my dad full of shit, but in this particular regard, he's been there before me, so he has at least a bit of credibility. Studying comes first. After I've studied until I can study no more, if I still feel the urge to write before I sleep, I will do so.
I'll share with my readers when there is something worth sharing. I can say that what I have written so far is somewhat centered around Mormonism but that it doesn't treat the topic all that sympathetically. I'm really not sure where I'm going with this venture. I may be truly going on a bender and may end up out in left field somewhere. The end could be a short story, a collection of short stories with related characters appearing result in each others' stories, a novel, or a collection of drivel so pathetic that I'm too embarrassed to show anyone, although I will really try to share if there's any way I can do so while maintaining even a shred of dignity. I'm not sure where it's going. All I'm really sure about is that if I release it in any form, at least half of my relatives will hate me even more than they already do. That's life as I've always known it, though.
I'm open to any words of wisdom (except for THE Word of Wisdom that Mormons refer to as such; I'm not all that open to hearing any more about THAT) from anyone who chooses to share them, Whether it's about plot lines, technique, best times for writing, how much to share or to give of oneself in one's writing, and other various and sundry topics, please give me advice. I need it.
And please help me to remember that I'm a medical student, not an author. This writing thing is a mere diversion. Someday I may merge the two vocations/avocations of my life, and I may come up with a work of literature related to the study of medicine or featuring a med school student or doctor as a main character, but at this point I'm too much of an neophyte in the field of medicine to even consider such a prospect.
