Re: Problems

Vita:
I see your last blog as being about two different things. The first is that you don't feel like you're doing your best in English, to which I say you have high standards but I get that, being an over achiever in English, too. The other is that you're doubting you're writing. I shall now respond to both, in backwards order because I'm feeling like that.

I don't personally believe that some people are naturally talented at writing. Maybe they are, but I don't see it. I think some people love writing. They love words and working those words into beautiful (or funny or thought provoking or intense) sentences. That passion for words can become talent (if you want it to).

When I was a kid, I loved writing in my journal. Did I think I was talented? Maybe. Did I think my journal entries were clever and amusing? Hell yes. Was my spelling horrible? Pretty much, though it actually wasn't too bad. Did I have any ideas about sentence structure or how to write an essay? Absolutely not.

But I loved to write so I did and, eventually, through reading a ton of books, I learned how to use grammar and different vocab words to enhance my writing. I can now use commas and apostrophes effectively! Hallelujah (funny word, that)! A couple years ago, I took an essay writing class and gained that skill as well. I've been constantly working, even just by reading and writing more and more, on getting better at it and would I call myself talented? Sometimes. But it doesn't matter so much if I'm talented. I want to write compelling pieces and I try to do that. Every so often, I come out with something I'm really pleased with and that's enough for me. I still have doubts, I just try to ignore them.

What makes you think you're bad at organizing? I found your blog post extremely organized. It really took the reader by the hand and it stuck with me. I get what you're feeling. It made sense. But to your question, you are never irreparably broken, and if it's really important for you to be better organized, you'll figure it out. Trust me on that.

On English classes, I've never been to a physical one, but I've taken online ones for the past three years so I get the type of stuff in them. Being good at English, in my opinion, means being able to read critically, respond to questions on what you've read critically, formulate your thoughts into sentences, follow sentence/paragraph/essay writing procedure, understand and identify literary devices and, as in most classes, figure out what your teacher wants and give it to them. Creative writing is kind of a different thing here but it is included partially in foundation Language Arts classes.
So what it is you're having trouble with? Your teacher doesn't like what you write creatively or what? Because writing is an art and it's subjective so not doing well on that is kind of silly, I think. Not sure what to tell you. Sometimes teachers can have issues.

By 'looking for other options' do you mean thinking of other careers? Because if you love writing and you want to be great at it and get paid to do it, then you should. End of story, or beginning, depending on how you look at it.

Rena: Isn't it awesome that there are two posts in a row that are titled 'Positivity' and 'Problems'? That's diversity.