The Year I Fell In Love With Writing

2007 was the year a lot of changes happened for me. Some I would like to forget (the usual stupid awkward high school stuff lolz.), and some I would never forget. This post will be about the moment I found out writing could be a major part in my life. Whether it be applying for jobs, jotting random thoughts for my blog page, song lyrics I think about or story ideas. Writing has never left me and became a major part in my life from 2007-2021 and its looking like beyond that. I think its cool to take a moment and think to yourself why certain events in your life made you who you are. And this is mine. Heres when I found writing in 2007.

The beginning of the school year in 2006-2007 I applied for a film study class. It was an elective (A class that's optional to take or not). Whenever it came to electives I alway picked one that would give me an "Easy A".  Long story short I thought I'd have fun hanging out watching movies, and I did. I loved learning about the little intricacies during classic movie scenes like Camera angles, dialogue, lighting and more. It made me end up taking a play writing class next semester. Because of how cool I thought film study was.  

The class was filled with some kids who had a genuine interest in play writing. Some of them wanted Easy A's like me. The rest just probably just treated it as another class. Lucky for me I had a few close friends and a girl I had a crush on in that class to make it a little more fun and relaxing. In those first few weeks we went through structure and pacing. We never read our plays to our classmates. Only the teacher did. Until one day we were told a professional playwright would be visiting and co teaching the class to help and sharpen up our playwright skills.

We didn't know what to expect until the new teacher came in. Even though I was still a kid I thought the teacher was a very attractive lady (Trust me that will matter later). We started to read scenes we thought were our best. 

Naturally I went to a badass fight scene. Some of my guy friends raised their eyebrows clapping their hands at the brutality of my words. I wrote a story about a small time boxer and the road it takes for a fighter to obtain their victory. Basically Rocky but in my world.

Days passed and I didn't think about my presentation at all till one day the playwright tells me and a few other kids in my class she'll be teaching a few of us personally while our regular teacher continues to teach the rest of the class. To my surprise I was one of the kids she picked along with the girl I had a crush on. 

We were brought to a room next door and our new teacher tells us. We had the best written plays in her opinion. And after her time teaching at this school she wants to pick a suitable play for people at the theater she works at to act out. 

This was big even for me. Im a competitive person but only in a few things at that time (Boxing, Video games). I don't know what came over me but I thought it would be the coolest thing to win. So I wrote my ass off in that class. 

I remember the acclaim I got from my friends earlier in class so for my play I wrote struggle, pain and brutality to the best of my abilities at the time. But to my surprise the teacher ends up picking a scene I wrote involving love and passion. 

She reads the scene in front of all the kids who had the best plays. But this time there was no reaction from the guys. Except for my friend who was laughing thinking, "wtf laughing". I wasn't embarrassed or nothing. I just thought, "Dang, I guess the first time when I was given props was a fluke." But then the girl I had a crush on says to me, (Im paraphrasing because this was a long time ago) "Wow that was intense." And her friend cosigns my scene to (I liked her to but not as much as the other girl).

Long story short. I didn't win that contest. But that class gave me a perspective that helped me till this day. With my words I was given praise by my male and female friends. The only other time I shined like this when I would be myself would be the boxing gym. With writing I got all the praise and pats on the back without throwing a single punch. Or having a punch being thrown at me. So you can understand how I fell in love with this activity. 

 I have written poems before but never to impress a girl. The words I wrote that day impressed some attractive women (my teacher and classmates.) It most likely brought me into writing song lyrics for friends. But that's a story for another day.  

I owe a lot to those two classes (film study and playwright). Because of those classes I've written songs, articles, blogs and a book that I'll be making into a series. I've been blessed with passive income from all those forms of writing. Its a hobby of mines that will never leave me. 

After the class it was capped off with a field trip to the theater. It was an amazing experience meeting the actors and writers. We were given cards to view plays at a discount that lasted for the whole year. I don't remember any of the plays we saw that day because it was years ago. What I do remember though is the itch those two classes gave me. It was an itch to create more. Im proud of the small mountain of content I've created from 2007 till now. A lot of it is to my god given creativity but its also to those two classes. I think to myself what if I applied for yoga or baking instead of playwrighting? No telling what type of person I would have been then. Either way Im pretty satisfied with the choice I've made going down the writers path. Now because of those two classes media such as music, books and film all have a **added** level of enjoyment when I take in whatever Im listening, watching or reading. Because of those two classes I also feel I can enjoy art at a **higher** level compared to who I was before those classes. And I owe it all to that year in 2007. When I fell in love with writing.