I have to admit as the semester continues on, I am finding it more and more difficult to find an interesting topic for my column.
Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of interesting and exciting things happening all around me, but for some reason I have been in a column-slump for a bit now. I thought spring break would help jolt me back into high gear. However, I’m still waiting for that to kick in.
As I am still a student, columns allow me to branch off from topics that I am told or advised to write about and ramble on and on about something that I like or something that ticks me off. That’s definitely a benefit to writing one every issue.
But, every couple weeks I hit a slump. After Tuesday night, which is our production night, I spend Wednesday through Monday looking out for something small that could influence my column.
As the days chug along, Monday night rolls around and I still have nothing interesting I want to say.
And while writing columns is well and good, it is really difficult to struggle with a topic. When you don’t have anything to write about, 500 words feels like 5,000.
If you are a writer, you’ll understand that articles, papers, short stories and so on are writers’ children. Like an artist’s work of art or a scientist’s discovery, writings capture the true essence of the author in hopes that someone out in the world feels the same way.
It is so personal that oftentimes, it can be really scary to come right out and say what you feel for fear of rejection.
Getting over that hurdle takes a bit but once passed, it feels incredible. If you have the attitude that no matter what you say, someone is going to disagree (cue the comments section) writing becomes a little less scary. Hey, you can’t please everyone.
I am blessed with the ability to showcase my work in The Gannon Knight every single week. Not everyone has the opportunity to get his or her work published and here I am every week with something new to discuss. That really does mean a lot.
And generally, I write solid pieces that I hope people enjoy and learn something new from. It’s important to me that I put out accurate and grammatically correct articles because my work is a reflection of who I am.
I think getting comfortable seeing my work every week took some time. But what I wasn’t prepared for was those off weeks where I literally have nothing to say, which isn’t too typical of me.
Part of the reason is that I don’t want to come off sounding like an idiot. I want to produce a really great piece of writing that people who read it will appreciate as well.
That’s the most important thing to me and when someone compliments my work, it honestly means the world to me.
It makes those difficult times of writer’s block worth it. So thank you to all the people who read my work and those who continue to.
SAMMIE JANIK
