English. Such a boring and dull subject, is it not? I’m pretty sure the only reason English class exists is to bother me with everything I loath. Like books, for instance. Why would I ever want to read a boring, dumb book? I could be playing video games or watching TV or something. Writing is almost worst. Why would I need to learn how to write? It’s not like my tongue is going to fall off and I won’t be able to talk ever again, forcing me to write everything down.
Well, at least not yet. We’ll see how tomorrow goes.
Oh, and the teachers! They’re so terrible! Who cares if I put the comma in the wrong place? It’s not like it’s that big of a deal! Not like it makes a difference anyway. They’re all just picky jerks if you ask me.
Yeah, right.
I get a good chuckle when I think of my twelve year old self. While sure, I’m exaggerating quite a bit for dramatic effect, I felt that way about English class. I didn’t hate books, actually. I can enjoy a good story, regardless of the medium. It was just so time consuming. Why would I spend an entire day reading, when I can do something, you know, actually productive? I did hate everything surrounding grammar, though. Just seemed really nitpicky and pointless.
Yet, not ten minutes ago, I was looking through a very long google document contemplating which one these ideas I want to flesh out and turn into a short story, adding to my very long list of short stories I’ve written, all of which are probably bad and nobody has read. Which is fine, to be honest. I just want to keep writing, because it really developed my character and helped define who I was.
Or, instead of doing that, I could get a couple more chapters into “The Ultimate Hitchhikers Guide to Galaxy.” Have a week to get through a 800 page book, better get to it! This back catalog of books I want to get to may literally kill me.
But then I remembered I had to write this essay, and decided to do that instead. So instead of writing this needlessly long introduction, I’m going to get to the point of this essay! And yeah, I know, acknowledging your mistakes doesn't make it any better. Tangent after tangent, yup, I’m terrible.
Anyway! Say Jeremy, how did you go from hating English, to loving books and reading them constantly, have tons of terrible short stories, and have writing drastically change who you were? Well, thank you, imaginary person I just made up, for asking! I will gladly tell the tale.
It all started three years ago...
“Old hag” were probably the first words that popped into my head when I first met my 7th grade English teacher Ms. Hodges. Old lady teaching a boring English class? Man, I’m to LOVE this class...
And oddly enough, I totally did. Didn’t expect that twist, did you?
As stated earlier, I didn’t really like English, and Ms. Hodges seemed to notice my lack of enthusiasm with the subject. She got a little more hands on with my learning. She began recommending books to read during our classes dedicated reading time. That’s when I read the first book I actually really enjoyed and couldn’t put down.
That book was Maxiumum Ride, the first book in the Maximum Ride series. When I finished the first one, I was heartbroken to find out she didn’t have the other books in the series, and I had to seek them out myself. About four days later, I was putting the latest entry of the series in my bookshelf, next to the other books in the series. I bought all of the ones that were out, even the one I already read at school, and was anxiously waiting for new ones to come out.
About a minute later, I was sitting on my couch, with my head in my hands. I had done nothing else besides reading books for the past week. No video games. No TV. Just books. And it’s not like there were small picture books either, they were 400 page novels.
What was I doing? I was spending my free time reading books. And... I was really enjoying them.
She kept recommending me books, and I kept reading them. I even began to seek out my own books. I talked with Ms. Hodges about the books I read. Debate on what I thought the authors did well, or what the book could have done better. I began to start thinking critically about what I was reading, and not just absorbing the content. I was able give intelligent and informed opinions about things. Give very detailed reasons why I dislike or liked something.
Which is something most teens can’t do. Oh, you thought the new Smurfs movie was pretty good? Yeah, shut up. You don’t know what the difference between good or bad is.
I started to think about everything with a critical mind. Began to think about the whys and hows of everything I was exposed to in terms of medium. I then began to review books, movies and games. I felt this need to figure out how I felt about the media I consumed. Did I like it? Why did I like it? What could have been better? And writing these thoughts on paper and organizing them helped me figure that out. It very much developed my taste and character.
The more I read and learned about books, the more I wanted to write one. It looked like it could be fun. But the thing is, my writing skill was pretty terrible. These reviews I wrote were mostly me just throwing random thoughts on paper and trying my best to connect them. So, I turned to Ms. Hodges to teach me.
I learned about grammar, sentence structure, expanded my vocabulary and other stuff. You would think I would get bored out of my mind learning this stuff, but it was actually really fun. After some of that, I tried it. I had some ideas. Here was a blank piece of paper. So I tried to write something.
And gee whiz, it was pretty terrible. Even though what I wrote was junk, I realized that I really enjoyed writing. So I kept doing it. I wrote about anything and everything. Everyday. Sure, I still played video games and read books, but I always had a notebook where I was, writing in it whenever I felt like it, which was pretty often. I loved it.
I showed what I wrote to Ms. Hodges and recieved critical feedback. Tried to figure out what I do well with my writing and what I need to improve on. I began to focus on the style of writing I had, which I felt I did well. I was determined to write something I was proud of. Just keep practicing and practicing. Write about anything and everything.
About a couple of months later I showed a short story to my friends and family, and gained praise. Sure, they were probably just being nice, but I felt good. I felt like I accomplished something. All this work and constant practice was finally lead to something I could feel proud of. I was so proud of myself and was shocked by how much I’ve matured since I first started 7th grade a couple of years ago. How much I’ve changed, and what I’ve learned about myself.
Writing is now one of the main ways I express myself. I’m a really dumb and silly person, but not being the most socially comfortable person in the world, I don’t really get to express that side of me that often, and it totally sucks. Right next to hanging out with friends, writing is the safest place I feel like I can express myself. So I try to incorporate as much “me” as I can into my writing.
Like with this essay, for example. Not to break the fourth wall, well, it may be a little to late for that, but I write in a freehand and very informal style. I try to add as much personality into my writing as I can, because again, writing is how I express myself. I don’t want to write the very formal paper that sticks straight to the facts. My writing style thrives off of personality, not just raw writing skill like a very formal essay would require. While I’m confident enough in my writing skill to write a very formal paper, I just kind of don’t want to. It won’t feel like “I” wrote it, since I’m not expressing myself.
Yeah, I know, this style probably isn't the best for a school paper, and I’m fine with that.
Writing has now become an integral part of my life that I now want to do for a living. Take what you love and find a way to get paid for it, right?
But anyway, here I am. Because of Ms. Hodges guiding me through all my English endeavors, such as getting over my dislike of books, improving my writing skill, and many non english endeavours, such as developing my taste and character and even learning about myself, I would’nt be who I am today. While I’m not getting paid to write just yet, I’m getting there. Started to get into freelance journalism and writing bad fanfiction. May join the school paper if I’m feeling racy. Wait, do we have a school paper? I’m not even sure.
Still not entirely sure if I want to be a media connoisseur or become an author, but I’ll figure it out sooner or later though. Still have a lot to improve on, though. But as long as I’m writing and expressing myself in one way or another, I think I’ll be fine. Hopefully my needless tangents weren't to distracting, but I had fun writing this paper, and hopefully you could tell.
Written by: Jeremy Quach
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