Dear Editor:
Is it just me, or is there nothing to do in Plant City? At least for people like me: writers. There are acting, dance and sports groups galore, but no writing programs. The nearest gathering is in Lakeland.
In high school, I felt like there was something for everyone except me. I was a great athlete, and my acting wasn’t horrible, but my heart just wasn’t in those places. If an adult had taken the time to begin a group that suited my growing interest in writing, I would have been ecstatic. But no one did, and at that time, I hadn’t thought to create one myself.
Earlier this summer, a friend and I attempted to start a creative writing collaboration between local artists, but unfortunately, that didn’t work. Granted, we didn’t do as much advertising as we could have and only held one official meeting, but even the few people who we had commitments from to attend didn’t come.
There just doesn’t seem to be an interest here. Why is that? Greater influence seems to be placed on things that are deemed more “practical,” but what could be more practical than writing? The main issue is parents thinking that if their children go into a creative career field, they won’t make any money, and acting and dancing are more readily accepted because it’s entertainment.
But with writing, to receive entertainment from a piece, more effort is required than just sitting and watching. And in this easy, fast-paced, “we-want-it-now” society, it’s too much to wait for the end of a book or poem to find some sort of satisfaction. By teaching children this, I believe, we’ve made for selfish, lazy cheaters. I can’t begin to tally the number of my classmates in high school who just used Sparknotes, Shmoop and other websites to “read” the books we were assigned, but did all their other homework. The same number, or possibly even greater, struggled (and some still do) with essay writing.
My point is this: Writing is important. If we don’t know how to express ourselves, then what do we have? No matter what career path a person chooses, he or she needs to know how to communicate effectively, especially by email, in this technology-driven world.
I want to end this letter with an invitation: Join me. If you share my feelings and if a writing group for feedback and collaboration — no matter what your preferred writing genre — interests you, shoot me an email: dsc011@verizon.net. Let’s do this!
Destinie Candis
Plant City