Carrie Callahan

All semester I've enjoyed the stimulation of intense learning toward my Masters in English/Creative Writing. The department is extra SF friendly and the faculty is great. Still, I haven't been critiquing or writing as much as I need to. And now I'm full of story. Those who have to write will likely know what I mean, but I'll try and articulate it anyhow. It's like there's a great, big, rough wooden door in my head between my unconscious/subconscious/imagination/dream-self and my outward/conscious expression. And right now there's a massive first slamming itself against the door: Knock knock knock . My veins are pulsing, there's a sheen of sweat on my forehead; I have to open the door. When I do, I know what will happen. There will be a tempest and I'll have to catch it in something: a glass jar, a story, a teacup. At first it's gonna be a mess, like a flood of tiny glass beads that need to be sorted by color. By I...

Sometimes writing sucks. What I really mean is that sometimes it's difficult to put aside your daily emotional hang ups and actually be with your characters in their world in their time. What I mean is sometimes it hurts to be a lonely, isolated creative type whose best friend is usually their keyboard. I mean sometimes listening to other's critiques is difficult and heart-wrenching and tantrum-inducing no matter how many times you go through it or how necessary you know it is. Sometimes writing words is like pulling teeth and you don't even know why you're doing it because it's not like you're getting paid or anything. Writing can be a guilt-inducing nightmare when you've been offered the free time to do it (surely you have something better to do with your life?) and a horrible stressor when you prioritize your day job/housework/errands/relationships/health over pushing the word count out. I know this is like talking shit about one's children...

Restricting creative projects can be hard. I've been struggling, lately, with a list of things I want to do. There are short stories and webcomics, videos and forums. There is so much I want to create and engage in, and there are never enough hours in a day. My ideas are flowing like water, and it’s hard to contain them. Each one I write down for later strains my sense of what I need to be getting done. This gets me stressed and stress means less sleep and more of a slog the next day at my word processor, struggling to get the day’s word count in. I think part of the pressure to pursue all of my ideas at once comes from comparing myself to other, already successful authors whose lives I wish I could live - authors like Neil Gaiman and John Green. They’re very active on social media and engage their audience through so many projects that I often wonder when they even find the time to write! It’s not about fame, for me, just the freedom of doing all of the things you want to. They h...

There are many sentiments in writing that get under my skin. The idea of the writer as a paragon, as god, as untouchable deity of words. Writers are just people. You can be a writer to - you just have to write. Another is that you can never write anything original. Also known as "Everything has been done before". I think this is an excuse for those who cannot seem to break out of commonality. They strive for originality, but land in another pool of isn't-it-so-tragic-his-wife/child/father-died stories. The issue with this sentiment is that nearly every story is original. Predictability doesn't make this story the same story. This rebel looks/smells/thinks a little differently than the next bad boy and the girl who likes him. I think this sentiment is similar to those questions, "Why didn't I think of that?" or "Why didn't they think of this?" We look back into the Paleolithic era and ask, "Why didn't they just wash their han...