TWO WEEKS AGO, I had the pleasure of speaking with an OAC Writer's Craft class. A high school teacher of mine had asked me, and others, to talk to the class about "Writing at Work". I'm not an author, but I do have the privilege (on occasion) of putting words to paper. Those words have turned into speeches, News Releases, and sometimes videos.
But my big reason for going to the class was to give them advice I wish I had had when I was their age -- WRITE!! Just write, write, write. There will be days when University, and Work, and Family, will prevent (or at least interfere with) writing time.
I was able to honestly say that one of the most fun writing projects I ever attempted was in this teacher's class, almost 25 years ago. Instead of writing a series of disconnected short stories, she let me write one massive story about the themes found in Hamlet: Madness. Revenge. Unrequited Love. Family Pressures.
I was honoured then, to have a teacher trust me enough to go with a huge project instead of shorter deliverables. I worked hard - I researched in a "library" (yes, this was pre-internet), constructed a story, and put a lot of sweat into it. I was proud of the results. She gave me a perfect score. It's the first story I'm posting to this website.
I'm resisting the temptation to edit the heck out of the story. There's a lot of awkwardness in this, but I think that reflects who I was at the time.
At one point I thought I might turn this into a screenplay. The opportunity to do that is likely over as of... now. If you read the whole thing, you'll see there's a rationale for posting it now. Hope you enjoy it.