Personal Writing

Whenever I write a piece, I find it incredibly stressful to know that somebody will read it. This blog I find a great deal less stressful because I feel like the community that this class has created is welcoming and is overall, nice. For other pieces though, I'm always hesitant when I hit that “post” or, in some cases, “send” button. Reviews are one of those things.

This past weekend I saw the film “Senna,” a documentary that I found to be refreshing and it is, in my opinion, one of the best films I have seen this year (I'll make a top ten list towards the end of the year for those interested). After walking out of the movie (after it had finished, I re-read that and thought it looked funny), I knew that it was a film that I wanted to review on my brother's site. I immediately called him up to talk about writing one. He told me to go for it, but when I started writing, I began to think of the people who were going to read it. It made me nervous thinking about the audience I was writing for.

As a fan of Formula One racing, but not a fanatic, I knew that there would be people who knew more about the sport than myself. I used some of what I knew about the sport in the piece, but ultimately, would the “experts” make comments about my lack of knowledge? And then what of the film aspect? I suddenly realized that there were two groups, if not more, that I was aiming to please.

After three days of writing I finally finished the review. The piece was not my favorite work that I have done, but I was relatively pleased with it and if somebody read it and disliked it, I knew that I would still be proud of it. So I sent it off to my brother, who then posted it, and the waiting began. I usually don't receive comments about my work, so I wasn't expecting anything, but late this afternoon I found that a Formula One racing site had picked up my review and was linking to it. I know my review wasn't perfect, but I take this as a sign that I did something right.

As a writer, it's a relief to feel that acceptance when I finish a piece. Oftentimes, with most of my reviews, they just sit on the website and receive absolutely no positive or negative feedback. To see my brother post about that site picking up my review absolutely made my day and encourages me to continue writing. We all need positive feedback once in awhile. It feels good.