Always A Writer

As long as I can remember, I’ve been writing stories, but one of the first that I remember, was for our daily journal writing assignment in fifth grade. It was around Thanksgiving and I wrote about a turkey hiding as a rock so he wouldn’t be eaten. I didn’t have time to finish the story, as was par for the course for me. I wrote a lot of unfinished stories. Still do. But my teacher loved it. She encouraged me to finish it, and even pointed out my writing affinity to my parents. They didn't seem so impressed.

I didn’t finish the story, but I do remember fondly that it was appreciated by my favorite teacher.

In Junior High, we were assigned to write a short story containing dialogue. My teacher greatly disliked what I wrote, and I lost faith in my ability to write, though I never lost an ounce of my love for the written word. I devoured books.

In Highschool, we were assigned to write a short story based on action. My friend excelled, though she was an academic, not a writer. We both wrote about horses. She aced the assignment, I got a C and bad criticism from the teacher.

That same year, we were scheduled to take the Standardized Testing, as per state requirements. I scored in a very high percentile (98th maybe?) for language skills. The school counselor was very excited about it. So was I. He even called my parents in for a conference to acknowledge it, and discuss the options available. I don’t know what those were. Nothing came of it.

I stopped writing for years. I got too busy, and it didn’t seem very important, anyway. I picked it up again around thirty, when I was going through some very turbulent times and needed to make sense of it all. I began writing poetry. It was really awful, but I was inspired. Instead of quitting, I found friends and a group to help me improve, which I did.

Then I found Vocal, and have improved to the point of writing my first Novella, and publishing many short stories, personal essays and poems.

My mom claims I started reading and writing when I was as young as three years old. I don’t remember, it’s just always been a part of my life. Even after many discouraging events along the way, I have no intention of stopping now. Only improving.