NOTES ON MY WRITING JOURNEY—A BAREFOOT WRITER by Jane Mack
One of the reasons I moved to Saipan, CNMI was to write. It was my plan to write novels, and I thought that being far away from everyone I knew, on a beautiful, tropical island, would facilitate my process.
I had always wanted to be a writer, since I was a child. When I was 10, I subscribed to Writer’s Digest, which was published in my home city. I had digests from them of publishers and imagined my work going out into the world through them. I toyed with the idea of being a journalist, but as life unfolded, I went to law school, instead and became a legal advocate for the poor.
Upon arriving in Saipan in late 1984, I soon learned there were some writers here, including Nancy Weil, who managed a writers group that met at Northern Marianas College. I quickly joined. I submitted. I learned about their workshop process and feedback. And I realized I was not ready.
I also found that I had a lot of culture shock and other adjustments to go through, and life took over again.
More than ten years later, I finally got back to writing stories. My daughter was a toddler, and I expressed some of the joy and curiosity about life that I had in writing stories about and for her. I joined an online group called SCBWI—Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. I had some bad experiences with so-called editorial experts, but I also got together with a group of women who shared my writing experience and level, and we formed a critique group called The Barefoot Writers that worked for more than a year, and helped develop our talents and focus our energies on projects of interest. I submitted some short stories, and had one published. But I never seemed to get traction here, either, although I valued all that I learned.
Through participating in online writing groups, I learned of NaNoWriMo, the National Novel Writing Month, where the goal is to write a 50,000 word novel in 30 days. I joined NaNoWriMo in 2005, and have never turned back. I learned to crank out a first draft novel quickly. I learned I could do it! I learned that my drafts weren’t terrible. I learned that I have more than one story to tell.
And now that I have a compendium of first draft novels, I am moving on to editing, which is an entirely different process. I’ve worked through some editing with all the tools available through books, articles, you-tube videos, online information. But editing, just like writing, needs a community of support.
Marianas Writers Movement is helping. It’s good to have others who are here in the community to chat with, to write with, to share and ask for feedback. I’m still writing first drafts, but also working on editing. Hoping Marianas Writers Movement will further the journey.
I know there are others who rush right into publication. There are those who think you aren’t a writer or an author if you haven’t published. I’m heartened by Emily Dickinson, who coined the term “barefoot writers” for those who write but haven’t published. During her life, only one of her poems was published, and yet she was a prolific poet. I’m still a barefoot writer. Only time will tell where my writing journey will take me.