No. Not really. But she did have an influence on my reasons for writing.
My eighth grade year my dad signed me and my sister up for Natalie Williams' basketball skills camp. Three people hurt me that week, but I like to believe they hurt me for the better.
Natalie liked to have favorites. I was most definitely not one of them. She liked to focus on her favorites and spend minimal time with those like myself because I only frustrated her. On the other hand, my sister was definitely a Natalie Favorite. She was good. I tried so hard to be as good, if not better than my younger sister, but my efforts were in vain. Not only was she good, she also had the praise and the focus of both of my parents. They became more interested in her improvement and gradually became less and less interested in me...
It hurt. It still hurts.
My parents are very invested into the whole sports thing. I had to find something that would make them proud of me. I was afraid of being the awkward, nothing child.
So I turned to creativity, the arts. I focused on my choral classes and learned to love music. I also took on journal writing to express my frustration and to cope with my differences. I went from writing only a sentence a day to twenty pages a day. I learned to love writing.
I used to think I was writing all because of Natalie Williams or because I was trying to impress my parents. Now I know that I write for myself and myself only.
3 comments:
Good stuff. I laughed out loud when I saw the picture of Natalie Williams. I don't know why. Maybe it's the expression on her face. Maybe it's because she went to the same high school as I did (that isn't funny...I guess I just wanted to share that).
Anyway. Good post. Real. Honest. Makes me want to give every writer in this class a chance. Because maybe you could've been the next Natalie Williams.
I was afraid of being the awkward, nothing child.
(swiper no swiping)
"I write for myself and myself only."
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