I'm gonna tell you guys a story.
On the first day of Creative Writing class in my senior year, Mrs. Schroeder, who taught me various English classes all throughout high school, told me a story. This is how she told it:
"Several years ago, I was driving home from the store on a Sunday morning and got caught behind a car at a red light. It was one of those ones that never seems to turn green, no matter how long you sit there staring at it. And then, suddenly, I see this little old man hobbling across the street from the intersection. He has to be eighty years old, walking with a cane, and he's holding a Sunday paper under one arm, creeping along in front of traffic. I know he's not going to make it across before the light changes. And sure enough, the light is green and this little old man is shuffling in front of the car in front of me, looking so determined to get across this road. And then, right in front of the light, he drops the paper on the street. This big Sunday paper, twelve sections, all over the road. And it's wet out, so there are dirty puddles on the street, and it's windy, so the pages start to blow all over the road, and he goes to pick them up, but the car in front of me honks at him to get out of the way. So he gets up and shuffles across the road.
And this is how you know you're a writer: put yourself in my place in that story. Think about it. Are you annoyed that you were held up at a red light for an extra minute because an old guy dropped his paper in the street, or do you feel for that old man because he probably waits all week for the Sunday paper and now all of that is ruined because of wind and puddles and an impatient driver?
Anyone can write a story. A writer is someone who can empathize with people, see situations through their eyes, make that connection, and write that story."
Some day I'm going to be a Creative Writing teacher, and that's the story I'll tell on the first day.
"Several years ago, I was driving home from the store on a Sunday morning and got caught behind a car at a red light. It was one of those ones that never seems to turn green, no matter how long you sit there staring at it. And then, suddenly, I see this little old man hobbling across the street from the intersection. He has to be eighty years old, walking with a cane, and he's holding a Sunday paper under one arm, creeping along in front of traffic. I know he's not going to make it across before the light changes. And sure enough, the light is green and this little old man is shuffling in front of the car in front of me, looking so determined to get across this road. And then, right in front of the light, he drops the paper on the street. This big Sunday paper, twelve sections, all over the road. And it's wet out, so there are dirty puddles on the street, and it's windy, so the pages start to blow all over the road, and he goes to pick them up, but the car in front of me honks at him to get out of the way. So he gets up and shuffles across the road.
And this is how you know you're a writer: put yourself in my place in that story. Think about it. Are you annoyed that you were held up at a red light for an extra minute because an old guy dropped his paper in the street, or do you feel for that old man because he probably waits all week for the Sunday paper and now all of that is ruined because of wind and puddles and an impatient driver?
Anyone can write a story. A writer is someone who can empathize with people, see situations through their eyes, make that connection, and write that story."
Some day I'm going to be a Creative Writing teacher, and that's the story I'll tell on the first day.