When I was a child, my teacher told me the words on my paper looked like chicken scratch. She actually got in my face and flapped her arms like a chicken. Unfortunately, I had not yet mastered calligraphy in first grade and had a hard time holding the pencil. I tried so hard to write in beautiful, flowing handwriting that I developed a callous on my finger. To this day, I have not forgotten that woman. Instead, I would like to thank her for helping me choose my career.
Writing has been a way of life for me since I got my very own Hello Kitty journal in elementary school. Have I published anything? Well, not exactly, but I have written several stories that are read to an exclusive book club (meaning family members only). I branched out one day and let some girlfriends read a new idea I had for a children’s book and they seemed to like it. I’m not sure if my fear of rejection stems from my earliest encounter with writing, but if that is the case I am letting Mrs. Scratch win and I can’t do that.
She made fun of most everything I tried to create that year. It is my theory she recognized my inner genius and was trying to stifle it. I realize this is exactly what Catherine Lanigan’s professor did to her in college. Who am I talking about? A while back I remember hearing a story about the woman who wrote Romancing the Stone. No, not Joan Wilder. Although that line was really funny in the movie. Her professor told her that if she never wrote again, he would “let” her pass his class with a B. Many years later, she happened to talk to some writers who were in town with a television crew. One of them gave her his card, and said if you ever write anything, call me. Just like that, he restored the confidence she had lost and she went home and started writing.
“There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.”
~W. Somerset Maugham
