One step back, three steps forward.

I know the title of this blog update isn’t the real cliché.  But I felt it was a good explanation of my struggle with writing this semester.

I had always been naturally good at writing.  Always done well in all my journalism related classes until my journalism class this semester.  The class shook me down and stripped my writing apart. 

At first, I was very upset over my grades and the fact that I thought I lost my ability to write.  But instead, I’ve come to realize I lost the person who wrote because she loved to.  And she’s just starting to resurface again.

But, to quote Chuck Palahniuk‘s Fight Club:

“It’s only after you’ve lost everything,” Tyler says, “that you’re free to do anything.” 

I left my last journalism class feeling more confident than ever.  I faced a lot of discouragement and intimidation this semester, but instead of coming full circle, I know I have risen above and beyond.

So, on this bittersweet day, I’m proud to say even through my failure and temporary loss of ability I have learned so much about what will make me a good writer.  And what I will do to become that person again.

I had the reminder today that writing is ‘my thing,’ in the early years of my elementary school life I was bullied to the point where I would fake being sick to not go to school, and when I did I would come home crying.  No little girl should have to go through what I had to endure for three years, but in it, I found my voice.  And although my words were very limited, I wrote.  And now my little girl spirit is back and I don’t want to stop writing.  The next time I stop writing the person I am will be dead.

I know what I have to do.  It’s my destiny.  This summer I will be reborn.  The match is lit once again.

Oh, and I will also stop using as many cliché’s as I just used.