Writing Was Hell…

Writing has never been my strong suit. I used to dread writing assignments in school; I often found them uninspiring, lengthy, and boring. That is, until my eighth grade English class. It seems melodramatic to say this class changed me, but it truly did. I entered this class as a student just trying to get by, and I left as an accomplished writer, with loads of talent I had a passion to share with the world. It all began with a short story assignment. The prompt was: whatever we wanted it to be. Truly. All that was required was five pages of creative writing without limits. I was shocked, to say the least. I had never been presented with an assignment in school where I could fully express myself. 

At first, I was overwhelmed with the task. What to write about, when you have the world at your fingertips? Coincidentally, I had recently had a detailed conversation with my Nana about our family’s origin story, about how my great-grandparents came over from Ireland to start a new life in America. And there I had it, my story. From there the writing process went smoother than I could have imagined. I truly felt free when writing this piece, and I realized it was not that writing was not my strong suit, it was that I had never encountered a writing assignment that let me showcase my unique array of skills. For the first time, I was able to find my voice through my writing. So I wrote, and wrote, and wrote. Before I knew it, I had constructed a fourteen page short story about a young girl in Ireland, who was looking to find her voice, much like myself. She was only able to express herself through her music and struggled with putting it out into the world. One day, she took the leap of faith, and hopped on a flight to America, with hopes of pursuing her dreams there. I based this story on the ones I had heard from my Nana about my great-grandparents coming to America in hopes of beginning new, more fulfilling careers. 

I also loosely based my piece on the musical Once. I’ve always loved American musicals and had a passion to continue to explore them in my life, and Once has always been one of my favorites. I saw it for the first time with my Nana, so it felt especially special to connect my piece about her family to this outstanding musical. One of my favorite lyrics from Once, and a lyric that I felt especially relevant in this piece, is, “You have suffered enough, and warred with yourself, it’s time that you won.” This lyric at the end of the bridge of “Falling Slowly” well represented myself while writing this piece. I had always suffered in my writing and was my own worst critic, and finally, I was able to “win” with a piece that I felt truly reflected my talents on paper. While I loosely based my short story on Once, I can also connect it to one of the overarching themes in the Broadway award-winning musical, Hadestown. The premise of Hadestown is based on the ancient mythological tale of Orpheus and Eurydice: Eurydice died, and Orpheus traveled down to Hell, or “Hadestown” in this case, to save her, ultimately winning over Hades by playing his song, the song of the God’s love, on his lyre. I felt that I could connect my short story to Orpheus’ song. Throughout the musical, we see Orpheus struggling to complete his song, releasing fragmented versions in “Epic I” and “Epic II,” until finally, we hear his completed song in “Epic III” (Epic III). This song can be seen as a passion project for Orpheus, and throughout the creation of it, he was able to find his voice, the voice that saved his love in the end. Similarly, my short story was a passion project of mine, and I was able to find my voice throughout my writing, and in the end, I fell in love with writing.

I will never forget my Nana’s face when I first showed her my completed story. She was so overjoyed that I had chosen to write about our family – I even titled my story “The Ó’Dálaigh Tale,” as that is how my last name, Daly, was originally spelled in Ireland before my great-grandparents changed it for simplicity. When my Nana first read my piece, although I was in eighth grade, I imagined her seeing the struggles of her family paying off, as at that moment she knew I had a bright future ahead of me. I am a first-generation college student on my father’s side, and it was special for me to be able to share a part of my family’s upbringing in this short story. It is even more meaningful to be able to write about it again now, as I am officially in college, and I can look back on all of the struggles that my relatives before me had to face to give me this opportunity. 

Looking back on it now, I am now seeing that I not only wrote about my family’s story, but I also wrote about my own story. I had a strong female lead in my short story, and she had a passion for the arts, as do I. It was important for me when writing this story to have her take matters into her own hands to pursue her dreams. Being a woman pursuing a career in the arts, this was significant because I wanted to showcase to young girls, much like myself, that we have the strength inside of us to accomplish anything we want, and we do not have to wait on someone else to give us that push. As can be seen in society today, most female musicians, artists, performers, etc., have male figures working either above or behind them to help their careers grow. In writing my story, it was enlightening for me to realize that should not be the standard. In writing these fourteen pages, I was able to realize that as a female I need to be responsible for bringing myself up into the performing arts world, and I was able to find my confidence to pursue a career in the arts as a woman.