In this Sunday Series, you’ll meet writers new and seasoned as they share what inspires them to put #PenToPaper. This week, welcome Amanda Hoving, who writes about 8-track tapes, Michael McDonald, and playing the fool.
Photo by Markus Spiske from Pexels
My dad introduced me to the song, “What a Fool Believes” by Michael McDonald on an 8-track cassette while driving in our Bobcat station wagon that was the same color as my muddy flared cords. If any of the words in the previous sentence are foreign to you…congratulations! By luck, birth order, or pharmaceutical means you’ve managed to bypass memories of the early 80’s.
I loved the song, though, and still do, especially after learning the premise behind it, which recounts a chance meeting of two people…with a past. To the “fool” of the pair, their time together had been the best thing to happen in his life; to his partner, well, as the lyrics say, “She had a place in his life, He never made her think twice.” Ouch. Everyone but the fool can see the relationship disparity. In short, love can erase all common sense and sensibilities.
Why bring this up unless to torture you with visions of feathered hair and vintage Jordache jeans, you ask? Because I often think of, “What a Fool Believes” as the soundtrack to my writing life. If it’s not clear already, I’m the fool in this writing metaphor, and my relationship with writing is one that seems to defy all reason.
When Christi first asked me about writing for her Sunday Series, I had just been informed by my school district that I needed to gather two-weeks-worth of “thoughtfully-planned” quality instruction materials for my 30+ students spanning 3 grade levels “just in case.” Two days later, our building closed. That was 7 weeks ago.
Before writing this piece, the last day I had written anything besides my daily parent emails – which are often quite entertaining (to me, at least) and take more time to put together than I will ever willingly admit – was March 7th. Almost 2 months ago. Sadly, I have gone longer without writing. Much, much longer.
I know there are many writers who say they can’t NOT consistently write – that writing to them is almost or more necessary than breathing. I can’t NOT consistently create (stories, images, daydreams) in my head, but I’m very good at the not writing it down bit. Like, super good.
Does this make me any less of a writer? I don’t think so. But, am I just a fool who believes what I want to believe? Maybe.
The Bio I have listed on my website starts like this:
Amanda’s writing career began in 2nd grade with the limited-edition publication of Around the Mulberry Bush – a book of poetry she wrote and illustrated during a thirty-five-minute math class about a type of foliage she had never actually seen.
And, you know what? My writing has always been this way…not the part about mulberry bushes, fascinating as they are, but that it’s done during stolen moments when I’m supposed to be doing something else. I write about exactly what I need or hope to find at the time – my published works and works-in-progress are an eclectic mess of my interests and psyche through the years. The one constant has been my proclivity towards adolescent humor. (Thank goodness for that!)
Right now, though, as I’m trapped in a distance teaching Zoom cocoon, there are no moments to steal. Writing has currently become my (other) neglected Significant Other. Again.
Because, although my relationship with writing is often complicated, uneven and disparate, it’s definitely based on love. A love of language. A love of stories. A love of creating. A love of sharing. And, I have to trust that when I can get back to it, it will be waiting for me. Again.
Or, maybe that type of thinking is just plain foolish?
But what a fool believes he sees
No wise man has the power
To reason away
What seems to be
Is always better than nothing
(“What a Fool Believes” lyrics by Michael McDonald and Kenny Loggins, 1979)
Amanda Hoving is a Midwestern writer and teacher currently misplaced on the east coast. She has written humor, fiction and poetry for publications such as Chicago Parent, Writer’s Digest, Highlights for Children, American Girl, McSweeney’s, Slackjaw and others and is a contributing writer for Middle Grade Minded.
You can also find her on her website and on Twitter where she posts in inconsistent bursts that you can never always count on.
Amanda – It is so nice to smile as we go around this mulberry bush. Thank you.
Yes, smiling is definitely preferable right now! Thank you for reading and your kind comment.
the world has changed since you last wrote, and you’ve had to focus your time and attention to a new way of teaching. A way that is exhausting and leaves no time for anything else. It’s nice to see you back writing, and good luck finishing up your school year!
Thank you, Jim – I appreciate it!
I appreciated this honesty about the time that can happen between writing. Happens to me FOR SURE. Sometimes whole years of nothing but journal entries. But I’m glad to have those and I think if I were always working on a big project, I wouldn’t have those entries.