Who Cares About Writing Anway?

Words are like children. Great care must be given to them when they come into existence.

In the years that led me to become the writer that I am today, I started as someone who didn't really like writing. It took far too much time. It was tedious and tasteless. I didn't care for it, but it was a necessary evil. Reports were tolerable, but essays left a bitter taste in my mouth--as if I'd been drinking unsweetened lemonade.

I didn't honestly enjoy writing until I took English 101 during my freshman year at Wright State. I can still remember writing a vivid narrative of the time my brother and I made a silent film. It all led up to the moment that I stood on a rooftop and jumped off, landing on a dilapidated trampoline that did nearly nothing to break my fall, but it was for the camera--and it looked great. I had fun writing it, and the "A" I got on it was nice too.

During freshman year I also began writing poetry, which I understand may sound strange since I was a Computer Science major at the time. I found that poetry allowed me to express myself in ways that C++ code could not. Poetry was personal. Besides that, ordinary people had greater appreciation for reading a page of poetry rather than code. Before I'd gotten through the middle of my sophomore year, I decided that English was for me, and I changed my major to Technical Writing.

Writing is, and perhaps always will be, a tedious task for me. It is a challenge, but I have never been one to back away from a challenge. Words, like children, must be tended to. You can't just let them run wild. Looking after your words is something you will do for the rest of your life. I once thought that writing was an isolated task, something that had no use outside of a writing class. Over the years I've seen otherwise. Words and writing are a major part of our lives. Choosing your words carefully when you write trains you to do the same thing when you speak, and unless you are awesome at saying the right thing the first time and every time, writing is something that will be useful for the rest of your life, in school and out of school.

If you don't believe me, stay tuned for more. I'll prove it!

(Did you see that? I just created a thesis. I plan to prove that writing affects every aspect of our lives. The funny thing is, I wasn't trying to form a thesis. You'll see, we use the conventions of writing every day without realizing it.)