REACTION PAPER ON “HOW TO BECOME A WRITER”

Written by Kehm Socayre of HUMSS2A

“It takes a lot of imagination, criticism, courage, experience, passion and grit to be a
writer.” I pondered as I’ve finished reading the essay of Lorie Moore, surely I concede, it takes
a lot to be writer.
Moore, I think, narrated a journey on pursuing someone’s dream to become a writer
and how that person found sanctuary while seeking for it, she did an impressive piece that a
lot of people like her, who has interest in literature, could relate. Reading her piece was like
a time travel of my own journey as a writer, how deeply fascinated I was with books and how
I wished to make one that everybody would enjoy reading.
After scanning the material I noticed the stages and thoughts on the journey, these
are the following; (1) You start it through imagination, (2) Someone would disregard your
work but keep going, (3) Do not limit yourself on the rules of writing, (4) Somebody would
question your taste, don’t mind them, (5) Kids will appreciate your stories (6) Experience a
lot of things in life, (7) When something bad happens, write it down, (8) You may question
why you write, but you can’t answer why, (9) Don’t push yourself too much to write
something you don’t want, (10) You will realize you write based on experience, (11) Push
further for your dream, (12) Realize the bigger things you can do because of this, and lastly
(13) Find someone you can share your stories with, for a lifetime.
For a writer like me who surely did experience the same thing in the essay (well not
as heavy and difficult as what the persona experienced) it is a great help and awareness too,
that I’m not the only being who had undergone the same situation. Writing novels in my
notebooks when I was 13 and letting my friends read it and receiving compliments was the
thing I surely like to do. Receiving half-baked smiles and sarcastic good remarks was
depressing.
One thing I have learned for sure, for the years I have spent on writing and associating
it with the literary piece, “You should not write a story when you are just concerned of the
reader’s thought but write a story based on what’s on your heart. Write to express, not to
impress.”
This essay sure was beautifully written and is also an eye-opener, about one’s
experience through life, one’s battle for dreams, one’s realization on what’s far more
important and one’s search for the missing piece.