There is something about writing that makes you enjoy it. It's a platform to tell your story, treasure a memory, speak your mind, and get something on the paper. It's the beauty of the words and thoughts scattered in your mind flowing onto paper as your pen makes each stroke.
Keyword: beauty.
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I am in a class where asked to write a memoir. Memoir is defined as: "a record of events written by a person having intimate knowledge of them and based on personal observation." For me, I am the one writing the memoir. I am the one sharing a story about how teachers and my life experiences all have come together to shape the person I am as well as the confident young women I am with the concrete desires in being a teacher someday.
In a memoir, there is a beauty to it. You choose how you want to convey your story. You have the power to straight up tell your story leaving no mystery, or the power to be anecdotal, in giving the reader opportunity to try to figure out on their own without you telling them.
So, I spent a lot of time into this memoir. It was seven pages long in its first draft and I was able to cut down over 300 words to make it six pages. I went to my classmates and to the school writing center to get it edited, about an hour of editing a piece. I finally felt like my story was told. It may be six pages long, but every word and idea counts.
I submit the work and feel relieved and confident that my piece was nicely written. It went from idea to idea, yet flowed. Each life experience and moment described was necessary to convey what I hoped. As I got the work back, out of the six pages, I had one really nice anecdote in which I describe when I was a little girl and had a pencil in my hair and a fake apple from my kitchen upstairs, as I taught my stuffed animals at four years old. I was a destined teacher from a young age. That moment sparked a lifetime of working to achieve my dream.
But, like an art class, it wasn't enough to please the teacher. Growing up, I loved art, but until a grade was put on my work in middle school, I despised art class. Art is the power for someone to be creative. You are the artist, you make it an artwork. Not the teacher. Not your classmates. YOU! My artwork was never enough for the teacher. They always looked at my work in the eyes of how they would do it, rather than appreciating the beauty in how I made it. I never did the best in art class.
I feel an almost flashback to that moment. Basically, I have to change my memoir to be filled with anecdotes. As the piece was appreciated and I completely respect the feedback, I still believe to myself I don't want to change the artwork I wrote. I don't want to erase the amount of time I put into this memoir. A memoir is like an art project. You design the route you want to take in writing. You tell your story how you feel you best can tell it. Writing is a beautiful outlet and when given an assignment with no guidelines besides to be creative, tell a story of a personal experience about yourself or someone else, and to follow a format, I don't understand why more change needs to be made. This is my story, and this is how I am going to tell it.
Respect your teachers and your editors. But, know when it's appropriate to stand your ground for the beauty of your writing.
