This post is a spinoff of my post about reading. I love to write just as much as I love to read. It is one of my favorite means of communication. I get excited when I see words that I have written in print. I’m sure this is one reason for deciding to finally start a blog of my own. Since I am not a student anymore, I don’t have anyone telling me to write. So it’s up to me to practice and try to improve (or at least maintain the status quo).

My first memory of enjoying the activity of writing was when I was eleven years old. I was in sixth grade and the curriculum called for an emphasis on creative writing. In order to progress to the seventh grade, my classmates and I had to do well on a writing test at the end of the school year. But I’m getting ahead of myself a bit.

I didn’t have much prior experience with writing so I was very unsure of how I was going to do. With every assignment I received more positive feedback, which led me to work harder and see just how well I could do. At the same time, I was discovering a fun, new means of communication as well as a new hobby. And my essay ended up as one of my teacher’s favorites.

In middle and high school creative writing was replaced more by term papers and research papers. But I still enjoyed it as a means of expressing myself. My experience as a college undergraduate served to encourage my love of writing even more. The Sociology department sponsored a journal in which the chair of the department picked what she considered the best student writing over a two or three year period. These essays were published in a professionally done journal that I still take pleasure in looking at even now. I was fortunate to have three of my essays published in the two years I attended Mercer University.

I set my dreams of being a published writer aside for a bit while I worked at a bookstore and then studied for my Masters degree. But something brought it back to the front of my mind. That something was a test by Longridge Writer’s Group. This is the equivalent of a school course of study on writing. I decided not to enter since I was already in graduate school at the time. But the group touted a test that you took to determine whether you were a good enough writer to enter the program.

They accepted me, which was another means of positive reinforcement about my writing. Since then, I have actively pursued a teaching career, while keeping the writing in the back of my mind. I hope I can somehow combine the two careers, academics and writing, in the future. Maybe as a college professor. I thank those of you who have stuck with me through this long-winded ramble of a post. As always, thanks for reading.