Word-wielding, Rule-breaking, Small Town Girl

I love to write. I love to blog. Therefore, I am blogging about writing! :)

Growing up, I was not a "good" writer, or that is what my teachers told me. I was an intelligent kid, but something just didn't click with writing. I still, distinctly, remember the day I learned this skill. Seventeen-years-old, sitting in a junior college classroom, taking a pre-course for the college classes I was in rolled in for the fall semester, I learned to write. A brilliant teacher came forward and taught me the process. She modeled how to begin with a blank piece of paper and turn it into a work of art through words. I was so proud of the paper I wrote for her, which got a perfect score, I took it home and stuck it on the refrigerator where it stayed for at least five years.

This one act had extreme ramifications on my life. I feel that it completely altered the path I was destined to travel down. I can still visualize golden streets in the sky (like the ones leading to Oz) suddenly changing like the staircases in Hogwarts. This shift led me to become an undergraduate English major with a focus on rhetoric, a freelance editor, and an aspiring Ph.D. student focusing on improving writing skills of adolescents. See a connection? I surely do.

Currently, I am enrolled in my first graduate level writing course and it is, yet again, altering my views on writing and the path my life has taken. See, I do love to write. I already mentioned that. However, I should qualify, I like to creatively write. Poetry, blogs, short stories, personal diaries. Things filled with emotion and humor. Do you think this is what earns one a Ph.D. in education? Not so much. Academics don't want to read journal articles filled with emotions and humor. Whomp, whomp.

So, I have been struggling with an internal battle: how do I become a distinguished, respected writer in my field yet hold onto the voice and character that makes my writing so unique, so me? Once again, I am overwhelmed and supported by the effects of a great teacher. My writing teacher was courageous enough to read a sample of something academic that I am currently working on. Filled with images of a classroom, portraits of students working hard and humor created through word play, this piece spoke of who I am: both as an educator/researcher and writer.

She was not appalled at my writing style. She did not tell me to take the creativity out. What??? That's right, she actually advocated for me to be creative within my academic writing. As she put it, "You just have to know the rules very well - so you can bend them almost to the point of breaking them without actually crossing that line." Good grief, this woman figured me out quickly. I get to be creative and I get to break rules? This is just too much goodness! She gave me tips for when and where I can be creative in academic writing and where I should stick to protocol.

With this information in hand, I am now inspired to continue writing academically, to let my unique voice be heard, to continue to push the envelope of public education, and now, to push the envelope of academic writing as well.

Here's to a hopeful journey! :)