It's the first Wednesday and time for the Insecure Writers Support Group, whose mission is to share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! IWSG is the brainchild of Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh Thanks, Alex, for starting this group and keeping it going. And thanks to this month's awesome hosts: Tamara Narayan, Tonja Drecker, Ellen @ The Cynical Sailor, Lauren @ Pensuasion, Stephen Tremp, and Julie Flanders!
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| Photo credit: Wikipedia |
I just watched Trumbo, the bio pic of the screenwriter Dalton Trumbo. He was one
of the Hollywood 10 who were blacklisted in the movie industry. Why? They were
accused of being communists by the House Un-American Activities Committee. This
was during the Cold War when we saw communists behind every bush, and fear was
rampant.
Trumbo kept insisting they (the Committee) had
no right to question them about their political beliefs. That the Constitution
guaranteed them certain rights. As happened then, and has happened recently,
when America feels threatened (by terrorists or anyone) Constitutional rights
are swept aside.
Fear makes us do things we wouldn’t normally
do. Fear produces mass hysteria. Fear can also freeze us from doing anything.
What amazed me about Trumbo’s life was his determination
to keep writing. Obviously, he (and his family) needed the money. Because of
the blacklist, no movie studio would hire him. So he gave other people credit
for his work, or wrote under pseudonyms. He couldn’t even accept the Oscars his writing won. He could have found another line of
work. He could have given up on writing.
Why keep writing?
That’s a question not answered in the movie. I
wish I could ask him what motivated him. What motivates any of us? What keeps
us going? When things get tough, why don’t we give up?
Question of the month:
What was your very first piece of writing as an
aspiring writer? Where is it now? Collecting dust or has it been published?
Mine was a romantic suspense that’s on a 5”
floppy disk somewhere. The printed copy is collecting dust. I found out the
hard way that rewriting is harder than starting from scratch, so it won’t be
published.
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