So last night (it’s probably more accurate to say early this morning) I decided that I wanted to create a blog. It may have been a mixture of summertime boredom or the strong desire to write which lead to the creation of Piece of Mind. The last time that I really wrote about something unrelated to schoolwork was about two years ago at my senior retreat and it was extremely relaxing. So going against my better judgment and along with my gut instinct, I’m going to share my questions, comments, concerns, and opinions with the world.
As long as I can remember, I have wanted to be a writer of some sort. The origin of this began when I was in second grade and we were given the assignment of writing a story for the Young Author Competition that was held at my grade school. The story that I turned in was entitled The Tree House, was bound by green construction paper, hand printed (with several misspelled words) on flimsy, large lined paper associated with the primary grades, and was self illustrated with stick figures and shapes that (only in my mind’s eye) resembled people and tree houses. To my surprise I won first place out of the first and second graders and received a certificate that was hung proudly on the refrigerator. Thus my dream as a writer began.
In the following years for Young Authors, I wrote short stories about my broken arm, my family vacation to Disneyworld, and (in my opinion my best work in grade school) a mystery entitled, The Mystery of the Girls’ Locker Room, which won second place in 5th grade. Throughout grade school, I liked to write short mysteries and adventurous tales, and also tried to keep journals (I thought the term diary was too girly) of my childhood activities and woes. Back then it was my greatest ambition to be an author in the same league as JK Rowling and Carolyn Keene (author of Nancy Drew).
Upon entering high school, I gave up on becoming a famous novelist and was instead drawn to the idea of becoming a journalist. English was by far my favorite and best subject so this further encouraged me. It was probably somewhere in between junior and senior year that I was enlightened of the fact that I had no writing talent, whatsoever. I don’t know what caused this change of heart, it may have been my AP English class, but somehow I just knew that my writing was sub par and I didn’t have the creativity or the patience to become a journalist or a novelist. So here I am today, following a completely different path than what I would have three years ago.
In retrospect, I think that I looked at writing in the wrong way. I took something that enjoyed doing and built an idealized dream around it. When I discovered the reality of this goal that I had set for myself, I abandoned it because I didn’t meet my own high expectations. So I am starting this blog not only to relieve my summer boredom, but also attempt to return to my roots (so to speak) and rediscover the enjoyment of writing that I had experienced as a child.
