With a dilapidating fascination for essays, you don’t believe this is worth reading, do you? But what what you don’t understand is “What’s writing worth?”
Wait! Don’t lose your attention span yet. I didn’t enjoy writing this essay as much as you don’t want to read this. That’s why all I’m going to do is tell my side of the story, as a writer. Putting words on paper, when I first began to write, it was not easy, not entertaining, and not exciting. Looking at an essay, I see through students and notice most works are filled with lists of words, lists of ideas, and lists of opinions. Little did I know, what I saw was only the structure of sentences, not the meaning of them. My 8th grade teacher at Kennedy Middle School, Ms. Schneck, entirely altered my perspective towards the construction of literature.
What really sparks up someone’s writing is creativity, like this example from This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff. “‘How’s life treating you?’ ‘Ruff!’ barked the dog. ‘Ah, rough! I see what you mean.’” It was these examples my teacher had used to convince her students to pursue writing as a hobby. Why hadn’t I thought of writing with such clever wordplay? These examples immediately grabbed my attention and left me mired in interest and inspiration to continue writing. From Ms. Schneck’s hodgepodge of lessons, I saw writing in a new way.
Whew, learning new words can also be tiring! I only learned a word a day in my 8th grade class, but that really added up. By the end of the year, I effortlessly learned more than one hundred fifty words! Now that is what I call magic. I always thought differently in the past. Great writers have no life. Great writers studied vocabulary. Great writers sharpened their pencils everyday. Great writers followed a routine. Great writers had their whole life planned out for them. Learning vocabulary in Ms. Schneck’s class contradicted and changed my opinions about who a writer is. Hard to believe though.
Without many rules, writing does not have to be honest. Writing does not have to be true either. Michael Jackson wrote the song “ABC” and the lyrics are “A, B, C, it’s easy as 1, 2, 3. It’s simple as do, re, mi...”. Although in some cases this may be factual, the meaning of the song did not consider people like me. A, B, C is not as easy as 1, 2, 3, nor is it easy as do, re, mi! I moved from China to America at age five. I did not know any English back then. I struggled through kindergarten and cried everyday. As a talented musician and mathematician, I well knew do, re, mi and 1, 2, 3. But from the perspective of a child, new languages seemed impossible for me to learn. Charles Bradlee introduced me to my first known piece of American writing -- his alphabet song written to the tune of “Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star.” Again, I was a musician. Writing a song for learning English was a brilliant idea! This composition proved to me how writing, whether book or music, can influence a future.
Why do I write? It’s what I get from writing that I enjoy so much. Writing is a way of relaxation, maybe after a stressful situation. Writing is seen to many as a hobby because it challenges creativity. But most importantly, I learned, through my experiences, writing is essential, playing a significant role over the course of history as well as what will come to be.
W’s are the symbols for writing. The word itself starts with a W. If you have not yet noticed, all my paragraphs begin with this letter because W’s represent the basics of writing. Over the years, I was taught that an experienced writer details who, what, where, when, and why. The purpose of writing is to share an author’s insight with a reader. Writing, being beneficial to everyone, not only generates new ideas in a writer, but also gives a chance for readers to romanticize in their own imagination.
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