After reading Stephen King’s article “Top 20 Rules For Writers”, I noticed I was both agreeing and disagreeing with some of the rules. For example, I found rule #8 to be one of the best on the list. It says “Don’t worry about making other people happy.” and I feel like that is such an important thing to remember. Not only in writing but in general as well. Your main focus should always be yourself and your goals. Everyone is always going to have a different opinion on what you’re doing. And although some feedback might be insightful, completely changing your style or plan to fit someone else’s definition of what they think you or your work should be is ridiculous. Doing that will feel restricting and suck the life out of you. However, I did not agree with rule #10 which was “You have three months.” King claims that no matter how long of a book you’re writing, the first draft of it should take no longer than three months. I find that absurd. I don’t think you can put a time limit on creativity. Good things take time and processes need to be done efficiently and checked thoroughly to ensure everything will turn out as envisioned. And if that takes longer than three months then I don’t see what the issue with that is.
Then after reading “Nobel Lecture” By Doris Lessing, I found myself feeling sympathetic. She discusses the difference in education between a poorly funded school in Zimbabwe vs a properly funded school in North London. In Zimbabwe, students have to walk miles to school in the morning but can’t even do their homework due to no electricity in the village. Which ties into making it harder to study as well. The children all begged for books. In the North London school, students have a visit every week from a well known person, beautiful buildings and gardens, and plenty of books for them to read. This article really made me thankful that I have had access to an education all my life and given the proper materials needed to prepare me for my future. It truly is saddening that that’s not the case for everyone. I personally think education should be free to all and funded globally. Although it’s not realistically happening anytime soon, it is absolutely possible and there needs to be more advocates for the education system.
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