The 100th Blog

I can hardly believe it, but this is my 100^th blog—it’s been almost two years since I started this writing journey with you. Perhaps time to reflect on what it all means.

Several people have asked me why I do this—why take the time? I’m always surprised at that question because the answer seems so obvious to me—I get something out of it too!

I remember the first time a reporter asked me what motivated my writing choices. Frida had just come out and I was being interviewed, thus getting all kinds of questions. But, strangely you might think, this one stumped me. What motivated the writing projects I chose? Seriously, I had no idea.

The reporter who asked this question was from a paper in Australia and I’ll never forget the moment, because that seemed like a question you’d ask to some important writer. And though I’d been getting major writing assignments for a while, Frida was the first film that got made, so I hadn’t talked to reporters before. Me? Diane Lake from Sioux City, Iowa? What motivates my writing choices? Surely that’s something you’d ask a ‘real’ writer.

A real writer. What did I think that meant??? I was getting paid for my writing—had been supporting myself very nicely as a writer for almost 10 years at the point Frida came out. And yet, I guess I didn’t value what I did enough to put me in the class of ‘real’ writers.

There are two interesting things about that I’d like to address:

[1] What is a real writer?

[2] What did motivate my writing choices?

First, a real writer should be someone who writes—NOT someone who is revered for their writing. And I think that was my mistake, thinking that I wasn’t a real writer because I wasn’t famous or something. I have to laugh—didn’t I realize screenwriters are never famous? With a very few exceptions, that’s true. Seriously, name three screenwriters.

Second, was there something motivating my writing projects? When that Australian reporter asked the question, I hemmed and hawed and then he answered it for me. He’d looked at the writing assignments I’d had over the last 10 years and said it seemed to him that I was drawn to films about creative people who had to struggle to ‘make it’… if you will. I remember this moment because it felt like I’d been hit with a truck, such was the power of that realization. He was right—everything I wrote was about writers or artists or activists who were trying to overcome some sort of opposition or roadblock to them achieving their creative goals. The reporter then commented that, given my background, I was drawn to stories about people like myself, wasn’t I?

And, of course, he was right. I’m very much drawn to stories about people who overcome insurmountable odds to achieve their goals—artistic or otherwise.

So my question to you is, what are you drawn to? What sort of stories do you find yourself writing? Do you see a pattern to those stories? Can understanding that pattern help you move forward as a writer?

Because maybe understanding yourself is the beginning to becoming the best writer you can be. Something to ponder, yes?

Copyright © Diane Lake

02Sep18

Email Diane a question to Diane@DianeLake.com