Throughout my life, I have always loved to write. In fourth grade, I would write fictitious stories in a binder and pass them around the class for all my friends to read. They would beg me for new chapters, and I loved that feeling. I built a community among a group of friends and bonded in silly literature. In high school, I was a sufficient writer. I strived in my classes that required essays. My fictitious stories in the binder throughout high school turned into daily non-fiction journaling. I have archives of my 16-year-old thoughts preserved in thick 6-dollar notebooks from the drugstore. These pieces of writing are my most priced; even if they are immature thoughts about attractions and geometry, they’re mine. Unfortunately, in college, I started to despise writing. I received my first “D” on an essay. It would take me hours to write a paragraph. I turned in every writing assignment late or accepted the failures and incompletes. I developed a mental block, and the journals that would take me three months to fill started to sit on my desk for years. I am not the same person I once was. I am constantly reminded of my old habits, and I have tried to be the 16-year-old writing in study hall or the fourth grader staying up all night working on a “novel.” Instead, I am learning about literature and, in turn, will learn how to be an author again. A great author is developed through reading and understanding. I hope to fall back in love with writing.
Happily Ever After
Or, Literary Theory and the Fairy Tale Genre
I really loved your blog. I really feel what you are saying here: reading and writing used to be a point of excitement for you that has now turned sour. I feel the same way and am trying to still work through that feeling of uneasiness I get when I’m assigned any sort of reading. I used to also write stories for my friends to read, or I would co-write them with them. I am really glad you shared your story – because it reminds me that I’m not alone in how I have historically felt about reading and writing.
Gabby- your blog perfectly outlines an experience that I think is so prevalent among students. I feel like the existing ideas of what it means to be a writer, a reader, a critic, (and even more terrifying whether you’re a good one) seriously stunt our urge to involve ourselves in literature in the first place. It’s sadly very relatable how certain academic settings cause us to turn against the things we love, when in reality they should nurture our interests.