JACKIE HEMINGWAY ON THE ART OF WRITING

Inspiration comes in many forms and from many directions. I have been a writer my entire life, literally since the age of about six or seven. Yet, it is only in these past few years I feel that I have truly become a writer.

Art, in whatever form you choose to embrace it, is something the artist cultivates, nurtures and allows for room to grow. You cannot simply pick up a brush and paint a Van Gogh or a Picasso with ease. Is it your painting or merely a copy?

The same holds true of writing. I am not the writer of my youth. Sometimes the simplicity and innocence of youthful writing is missed, other times I shake my head and I am grateful my style has evolved.

To be an effective writer, you must be able and willing to immerse yourself totally and completely into your work. If you are writing about Paris, your mind must be in Paris! It is the difference between watching a movie as a spectator and being in the movie itself.

You must be able, and willing, to become a part of that movie or you will be writing as a spectator and not as a participant. If you write only as a spectator, that is how your story will come across to the reader. Authenticity is key in being an effective writer.

You want your reader to become a part of the story, not simply an observer of it!

Art is always with the artist. The older the artist becomes, the more the brush strokes may be a bit shaky, or the words may flow a bit slower to the writer, but art will always remain in the artist.

Being an effective writer is one of the most difficult undertakings one could ever hope to participate in and endure…and I have loved every moment of it!