WEBVTT 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:00.922 align:middle line:90% 00:00:00.922 --> 00:00:02.880 align:middle line:84% As young writers, what advice would I give you? 00:00:02.880 --> 00:00:05.820 align:middle line:84% Well, I think the primary advice is to read. 00:00:05.820 --> 00:00:08.485 align:middle line:84% And, not only read like serious literature, 00:00:08.485 --> 00:00:10.110 align:middle line:84% I mean you read whatever interests you. 00:00:10.110 --> 00:00:11.940 align:middle line:84% And like I told you, in high school, 00:00:11.940 --> 00:00:15.540 align:middle line:84% Star Trek novels got me through a lot of tough times. 00:00:15.540 --> 00:00:16.500 align:middle line:90% And comic books. 00:00:16.500 --> 00:00:18.810 align:middle line:84% Whatever it really interests you, 00:00:18.810 --> 00:00:21.300 align:middle line:84% Magnum, whatever it interests you, read. 00:00:21.300 --> 00:00:22.860 align:middle line:90% Just be engaged with language. 00:00:22.860 --> 00:00:24.720 align:middle line:84% And you'll be surprised, eventually, 00:00:24.720 --> 00:00:28.080 align:middle line:84% you make a leap into like novels or short stories, 00:00:28.080 --> 00:00:30.390 align:middle line:84% "literary quality" that you'll be surprised. 00:00:30.390 --> 00:00:32.640 align:middle line:84% Because all the commercial fiction you read, 00:00:32.640 --> 00:00:34.410 align:middle line:84% all the popular stuff, there's always 00:00:34.410 --> 00:00:36.420 align:middle line:84% allusions, references to Shakespeare, 00:00:36.420 --> 00:00:40.620 align:middle line:84% the Greek myths, even some Mesoamerican cultures. 00:00:40.620 --> 00:00:43.200 align:middle line:84% There's always, in that so-called light literature, 00:00:43.200 --> 00:00:46.560 align:middle line:84% there's always seeds that gesture, 00:00:46.560 --> 00:00:49.860 align:middle line:84% are rooted in the greats, the great's work. 00:00:49.860 --> 00:00:51.720 align:middle line:84% You'll find those out eventually as you 00:00:51.720 --> 00:00:54.030 align:middle line:90% keep reading and reading. 00:00:54.030 --> 00:00:58.980 align:middle line:84% And also-- As a poet, you're not only 00:00:58.980 --> 00:01:01.530 align:middle line:84% a poet when you're at the desk in front of a page 00:01:01.530 --> 00:01:04.260 align:middle line:90% or a screen or a laptop writing. 00:01:04.260 --> 00:01:07.170 align:middle line:84% I think a poet is somebody who thinks about language. 00:01:07.170 --> 00:01:10.590 align:middle line:84% Even like me in the city, in the subway, I carry a phrase. 00:01:10.590 --> 00:01:13.350 align:middle line:84% Like lately I've been paper jazz, paper jazz. 00:01:13.350 --> 00:01:15.720 align:middle line:84% I carry that with me and just repeat it. 00:01:15.720 --> 00:01:19.710 align:middle line:84% I switch around the words, I play with it. 00:01:19.710 --> 00:01:22.530 align:middle line:84% All day for a day or two, in a week. 00:01:22.530 --> 00:01:24.847 align:middle line:84% And that's how I feel most like a poet 00:01:24.847 --> 00:01:27.430 align:middle line:84% when I'm dwelling with language, a little snippet of language, 00:01:27.430 --> 00:01:29.040 align:middle line:90% or just playing with it. 00:01:29.040 --> 00:01:30.900 align:middle line:84% So, you're not only a poet, you know, when 00:01:30.900 --> 00:01:32.610 align:middle line:90% you're at a desk or a laptop. 00:01:32.610 --> 00:01:35.400 align:middle line:84% You could be a poet just thinking about language. 00:01:35.400 --> 00:01:39.607 align:middle line:84% Tweeting about language, facebooking about language. 00:01:39.607 --> 00:01:40.690 align:middle line:90% I really like to Facebook. 00:01:40.690 --> 00:01:42.850 align:middle line:84% That's why I keep talking about Facebook. 00:01:42.850 --> 00:01:44.950 align:middle line:90% He's on Facebook all the time. 00:01:44.950 --> 00:01:47.530 align:middle line:90% No. 00:01:47.530 --> 00:01:49.720 align:middle line:84% Something that I think is really important, 00:01:49.720 --> 00:01:51.400 align:middle line:84% and I always go back to this, but I just 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:54.430 align:middle line:84% think you have to just be bold and don't 00:01:54.430 --> 00:01:57.220 align:middle line:84% let anybody tell you what you should or shouldn't write. 00:01:57.220 --> 00:01:59.290 align:middle line:84% I think that's the most important thing. 00:01:59.290 --> 00:02:00.798 align:middle line:84% If you have something in you that's 00:02:00.798 --> 00:02:02.590 align:middle line:84% bothering you, that you're wondering about, 00:02:02.590 --> 00:02:04.930 align:middle line:84% that you've been thinking about, write it. 00:02:04.930 --> 00:02:06.920 align:middle line:84% You don't have to show it to anybody. 00:02:06.920 --> 00:02:08.530 align:middle line:90% You don't have to publish it. 00:02:08.530 --> 00:02:10.130 align:middle line:84% You can do whatever you want with it. 00:02:10.130 --> 00:02:12.880 align:middle line:84% But I think for me, that's an important thing is just 00:02:12.880 --> 00:02:14.740 align:middle line:84% to make a decision right away that I'm 00:02:14.740 --> 00:02:16.000 align:middle line:90% going to say whatever I want. 00:02:16.000 --> 00:02:18.670 align:middle line:84% And I'm going to say it in any way that I need to say it. 00:02:18.670 --> 00:02:20.830 align:middle line:84% I'm going to use whatever I need to do to tell it, 00:02:20.830 --> 00:02:22.840 align:middle line:90% to tell that story. 00:02:22.840 --> 00:02:27.400 align:middle line:84% But I think another thing is, and I 00:02:27.400 --> 00:02:29.470 align:middle line:90% think call yourself a poet. 00:02:29.470 --> 00:02:30.760 align:middle line:90% Call yourself a writer. 00:02:30.760 --> 00:02:34.600 align:middle line:84% You know, I think it's important to take that step forward, 00:02:34.600 --> 00:02:36.430 align:middle line:90% you know, because-- 00:02:36.430 --> 00:02:39.130 align:middle line:84% and this is, again, I think this is coming from that basketball 00:02:39.130 --> 00:02:41.440 align:middle line:90% kind of mentality. 00:02:41.440 --> 00:02:45.730 align:middle line:84% And I think be proud, be courageous in it and say yeah, 00:02:45.730 --> 00:02:46.270 align:middle line:90% I'm a poet. 00:02:46.270 --> 00:02:49.570 align:middle line:84% And as soon as you can say that to yourself, 00:02:49.570 --> 00:02:51.810 align:middle line:84% you're going to start treating yourself like a poet. 00:02:51.810 --> 00:02:53.560 align:middle line:84% Which means you're going to start reading, 00:02:53.560 --> 00:02:55.900 align:middle line:84% you're going to start setting time aside to write, 00:02:55.900 --> 00:02:58.180 align:middle line:84% you're going to start doing the things just 00:02:58.180 --> 00:02:59.440 align:middle line:90% like if you say I'm a teacher. 00:02:59.440 --> 00:03:02.230 align:middle line:84% You know there are certain things you have to do every day 00:03:02.230 --> 00:03:03.080 align:middle line:90% to be a teacher. 00:03:03.080 --> 00:03:05.080 align:middle line:84% If you're a bus driver, there are certain things 00:03:05.080 --> 00:03:07.360 align:middle line:84% you have to do every day to be a bus driver, to be a mother, 00:03:07.360 --> 00:03:08.570 align:middle line:90% to be any of those things. 00:03:08.570 --> 00:03:09.760 align:middle line:90% So say it. 00:03:09.760 --> 00:03:10.580 align:middle line:90% I'm a writer. 00:03:10.580 --> 00:03:11.410 align:middle line:90% I'm a poet. 00:03:11.410 --> 00:03:13.430 align:middle line:84% And that means, hey, you know, you're 00:03:13.430 --> 00:03:15.430 align:middle line:84% the only one that can control the things you do. 00:03:15.430 --> 00:03:16.930 align:middle line:84% So now once you say it, you're going 00:03:16.930 --> 00:03:19.060 align:middle line:84% to start doing all the things that 00:03:19.060 --> 00:03:21.370 align:middle line:84% are going to let you be a poet or a writer. 00:03:21.370 --> 00:03:22.930 align:middle line:84% You're going to start reading, you're 00:03:22.930 --> 00:03:24.700 align:middle line:84% going to start carrying a notebook around, 00:03:24.700 --> 00:03:26.380 align:middle line:84% you're going to start making sure you've got a pen, 00:03:26.380 --> 00:03:28.570 align:middle line:84% you're going to start actually keeping the scraps of paper you 00:03:28.570 --> 00:03:29.170 align:middle line:90% write on. 00:03:29.170 --> 00:03:30.730 align:middle line:84% You're going to start writing down 00:03:30.730 --> 00:03:33.700 align:middle line:84% the funny things your grandparents said 00:03:33.700 --> 00:03:36.460 align:middle line:84% or about the fight you had with your sister, you know. 00:03:36.460 --> 00:03:38.540 align:middle line:84% You're going to start writing those things down. 00:03:38.540 --> 00:03:42.858 align:middle line:84% And so I think those two things for me is just 00:03:42.858 --> 00:03:43.900 align:middle line:90% say what you need to say. 00:03:43.900 --> 00:03:46.000 align:middle line:84% Don't write what someone else is telling you to write, 00:03:46.000 --> 00:03:47.208 align:middle line:90% write what you have to write. 00:03:47.208 --> 00:03:47.980 align:middle line:90% Yeah. 00:03:47.980 --> 00:03:49.068 align:middle line:90% Like with anything else. 00:03:49.068 --> 00:03:50.860 align:middle line:84% And once you call yourself a writer a poet, 00:03:50.860 --> 00:03:54.080 align:middle line:84% you realize it's labor intensive. 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:55.330 align:middle line:90% It's craft oriented. 00:03:55.330 --> 00:03:56.950 align:middle line:84% I mean, just because you call yourself 00:03:56.950 --> 00:03:58.810 align:middle line:84% a football player or a dancer doesn't 00:03:58.810 --> 00:04:01.900 align:middle line:84% mean you can get on the field on a stage and perform, you know. 00:04:01.900 --> 00:04:04.760 align:middle line:84% It's going to take practice, practice, practice. 00:04:04.760 --> 00:04:06.760 align:middle line:90% I mean, that's what it is. 00:04:06.760 --> 00:04:07.930 align:middle line:90% Practice. 00:04:07.930 --> 00:04:11.980 align:middle line:84% And be aware that you're going to fail and fail so many times 00:04:11.980 --> 00:04:14.380 align:middle line:84% until you finally find that space that you 00:04:14.380 --> 00:04:15.940 align:middle line:90% feel really comfortable in. 00:04:15.940 --> 00:04:18.070 align:middle line:84% I still fail all the time writing and drafting. 00:04:18.070 --> 00:04:20.292 align:middle line:84% But we all do, every poet does, every writer does. 00:04:20.292 --> 00:04:22.000 align:middle line:84% No matter how big or successful, they are 00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:24.580 align:middle line:84% they're always failing on the page or the feel 00:04:24.580 --> 00:04:25.930 align:middle line:90% like a failure. 00:04:25.930 --> 00:04:27.430 align:middle line:84% But they keep trying because they're 00:04:27.430 --> 00:04:30.030 align:middle line:84% interested and passionate about language.