Journal 1

Journal #1 Matt Steel

As a seventeen year old Canadian, there’s a reasonable boundary to "What I know". There’s probably also a conflict between what I think I know about and what I actually do. I’d say I’m pretty ignorant to writing about most topics in general. Going through school you learn the basics of how to write, but that’s quite different from writing. That being said, there’s not a whole lot of settings, topics, issues etc. that I’d be "uncomfortable" writing about. Anything I’m being serious about writing merits a bit of beforehand research. The things that make me a little edgy to write about are things that I might have a misperception on. When people write stories about someone with Autism or a single mother living in the ghetto, they themselves have a responsibility not to send out an image through their writing that would warp the minds of the readers. Not only is the writer giving people a false picture of something foreign to them, but is making an ass of himself as people will presumably be reading the piece of writing and noticing the ignorance. After writing this piece I’ve got half the mind to say I’d like to stay away from as much non fiction as possible, as fiction is almost a ‘safe zone’ to write in and around.