So, what should I do about this? There was a time when I really wanted to be a writer "when I grew up." In elementary school and junior high, I would try to write my own stories, and I still have notebooks full of them. In junior high, I was pretty much a dork, and spent all my time reading and writing. in my 7th grade language arts class, we kept a book journal. Every Friday, we had to turn in a journal entry that we had written about a book. I still have mine, because my seventh grade teacher wrote this on my last entry:
"Jessica, it has been a pleasure to have you in class this year. You have grown so much as a reader and a writer this year. I will miss having you in class, but I expect to buy one of your books someday. You really should think about becoming a writer!"
In eighth grade, other students in my class hated me, because my teacher would always use my writing as examples in class. I was secretly proud, although at the time I acted like I hated it :-P
At the end of eighth grade, all the language arts teachers nominate 20 people out of the 230 in our class for honors English. I was one of those 20 people, and I was so proud! However, I think honors English is what squashed my creativity, and my passion for writing. I was in class with the "smart kids." I was no longer the top dog or the teacher's favorite in my English class. It was very intimidating being in that class, and my confidence started to drop. I got more into history and science (NEVER math, though. I hate math :-P), and started dreading English class. It was pretty much like that all through high school.
In college I got to skip freshman English because I scored a 33 on the English section of my ACT. Again, I was thrown into a harder English class with older students, and was very intimidated! I remember turning in my first paper, thinking I had done an absolutely wonderful job. My professor returned it a few days later, and I was mortified to find a "C+" written at the top of the page. I actually cried over it, which is kind of ridiculous, because a C+ isn't really all that bad. But I wasn't used to getting low grades in my best subject! My passion for writing went down even more in college, until it was almost non-existent. Plus, I was an early childhood education major. We concentrated more on projects, case studies, and lesson plans than creative writing.
I guess I said all that to say that I miss writing! I want my creativity back! As part of my plan to start making things happen in my life, I have made a decision: I am going to spend some time writing, and a lot more time reading. Today I'm going to set up my own little corner in our office room (which is still packed full of boxes and junk). I want it to be a nice, comfortable place where I can just let the creative juices flow. I don't know what I will write about, but I guess when the mood hits me, I'll just use my little writing corner and escape into some story or idea. Who knows where it will take me. I wish I could be like my friend Laura, an English student and aspiring writer. When the creative mood strikes for her, she can just grab her laptop and head down to the "Friends Roastery," (an ADORABLE locally-owned coffee shop in our town that I would pick over Starbucks any day) and write for hours. My schedule doesn't really allow me to do that with my full time job and my own house and husband now. Most of my time seems to be occupied these days! So if I create my own little creative sanctuary in our house, I can just spend as much time there as I want, without having to make plans to leave the house and spend hours at the coffee shop.
My blog can be super-boring sometimes, because, quite frankly, my life isn't too exciting right now :-P So I feel like I need to give myself some other things to write about since I'm feeling the passion again.
Okay, I'm done with my babbling now. I really didn't plan to post on my day off (today is our teacher-in-service day at school. Since I'm just an aide, I didn't have to be there!) but again, I just couldn't resist :-P Hopefully I'll be too busy having fun the rest of this weekend to post too much!
At the end of eighth grade, all the language arts teachers nominate 20 people out of the 230 in our class for honors English. I was one of those 20 people, and I was so proud! However, I think honors English is what squashed my creativity, and my passion for writing. I was in class with the "smart kids." I was no longer the top dog or the teacher's favorite in my English class. It was very intimidating being in that class, and my confidence started to drop. I got more into history and science (NEVER math, though. I hate math :-P), and started dreading English class. It was pretty much like that all through high school.
In college I got to skip freshman English because I scored a 33 on the English section of my ACT. Again, I was thrown into a harder English class with older students, and was very intimidated! I remember turning in my first paper, thinking I had done an absolutely wonderful job. My professor returned it a few days later, and I was mortified to find a "C+" written at the top of the page. I actually cried over it, which is kind of ridiculous, because a C+ isn't really all that bad. But I wasn't used to getting low grades in my best subject! My passion for writing went down even more in college, until it was almost non-existent. Plus, I was an early childhood education major. We concentrated more on projects, case studies, and lesson plans than creative writing.
I guess I said all that to say that I miss writing! I want my creativity back! As part of my plan to start making things happen in my life, I have made a decision: I am going to spend some time writing, and a lot more time reading. Today I'm going to set up my own little corner in our office room (which is still packed full of boxes and junk). I want it to be a nice, comfortable place where I can just let the creative juices flow. I don't know what I will write about, but I guess when the mood hits me, I'll just use my little writing corner and escape into some story or idea. Who knows where it will take me. I wish I could be like my friend Laura, an English student and aspiring writer. When the creative mood strikes for her, she can just grab her laptop and head down to the "Friends Roastery," (an ADORABLE locally-owned coffee shop in our town that I would pick over Starbucks any day) and write for hours. My schedule doesn't really allow me to do that with my full time job and my own house and husband now. Most of my time seems to be occupied these days! So if I create my own little creative sanctuary in our house, I can just spend as much time there as I want, without having to make plans to leave the house and spend hours at the coffee shop.
My blog can be super-boring sometimes, because, quite frankly, my life isn't too exciting right now :-P So I feel like I need to give myself some other things to write about since I'm feeling the passion again.
Okay, I'm done with my babbling now. I really didn't plan to post on my day off (today is our teacher-in-service day at school. Since I'm just an aide, I didn't have to be there!) but again, I just couldn't resist :-P Hopefully I'll be too busy having fun the rest of this weekend to post too much!
I was the same way in school, always singled out for my writing and my outstanding ability for Spelling. I would always get a 100 plus the bonus words. I wanted to be a writer my entire life. All of the 'technical' stuff about writing turned me off to it. I just like to write, sometimes without having a whole story in mind. I don't like to follow any 'rules' when I write, it takes the life right out of it for me. I enjoy reading your posts, you are a great writer!! Have fun with it.
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