Books are not stupid

It was always one of my secret dreams to become a published author, but it was the gasp of a college classmate that confirmed it.

After completing a blog assignment in a public relations class, I was talking out loud to everyone about how awesome writing and books are.

Then, realizing how difficult it would be to become the next Stephen King or James Patterson and to make much money from the profession, I blurt out without thinking, “Meh, never mind. Books are stupid.”

A millisecond later, a classmate about to walk out of the classroom gasped and turned toward me, hands over her face, wide-eyed and fixed on me. I couldn’t help myself but to spin around in my chair and stare back, wondering for 10 seconds how I could explain to her I wasn’t trying to be offensive.

“Take it back. Take it back,” she finally said.

“Fine, I take it back. What’s the big deal?” I asked.

“Books are not stupid,” she said right before exiting the room.

The next day, I made sure she wasn’t really upset, and she concurred, stating she was just messing with me.

There’s an inciting incident for all of our favorite hobbies, whether it’s our first touchdown, tasting our first homemade cookie or when a God-given miracle takes place after doing something out of our comfort zone.

In my case, the closest thing for my writing and reading books passion came from that gasp.

Even though I’ve spent much of my adult life writing newspaper articles, books have always been my favorite thing to read and write. Despite consistently getting C’s in English class throughout high school, my favorite class was still American literature, where I got to analyze classic stories like “The Grapes of Wrath,” “Of Mice and Men” and “Huckleberry Finn.”

Since graduating from college in 2015, I have been learning as much as I can about what makes a book great and how to get copies sold. My first surprise was the characters and their journeys in overcoming their struggles was what made stories great, as opposed to action and plot twists I initially thought.

Throughout my time enrolled at Southern New Hampshire University as a graduate student, I also learned how to describe a setting in a way that allows the reader to escape from their reality and wander into another.

Those classes allowed me to connect with other aspiring and professional readers. But perhaps the event which allowed me to meet the most writers, face-to-face, was in Iowa City last weekend.

The annual Iowa City Book Festival held a book fair Saturday, which I had been waiting all year to attend (even before moving to Iowa in the summer). From listening to speakers to asking writers about the industry up close, I learned more about books from that one day than I had in 2.5 years since pursuing the hobby.

I primarily wanted to attend a book fair in Iowa City because of the city’s history of Pulitzer Prize-winning fiction authors that have come from that city. Almost all of them suggested Minneapolis was the place to go if you wanted to develop your career as an author.

Who would have guessed?

So far, I have one short story and 11 poems in my creative writing collection, not to mention the many newspaper articles I have written over the years. But the passion I have for original storytelling from authors long gone whose names still get purchased today, in my mind, is just too good to pass up.

Books will never go extinct.

Contact Orrin Shawl at oshawl@newtondailynews.com