To My First Creative Writing Teacher,
I have always loved the way I write, but most of my teachers in high school thought the voice I wrote with was too distracting for academic essays, so I stopped using my natural voice, and the confidence I had in my work decreased significantly because of it. With your help, I was able to boost that confidence to new heights. I want to thank you for encouraging me to develop my “writer’s voice” instead of telling me to put it aside for the sake of the story. You gave me an opportunity to really dive into the stories I wanted to share with the world, and the ability to share them the way I thought was best.
I used to struggle with revising my work because I would try so hard to make it perfect on the first try. You had me read the first chapter of Anne Lamott’s "Bird by Bird," and discovering that everyone writes really “shitty first drafts” changed my life and also taught me that even if I think a first draft is pretty good, it could be made even better with a little bit (or a lot) of revision. Before reading that book, I would stress myself out by trying too hard to come up with the perfect words on the first try. In the end, I would be so concerned with which words I was using that I would forget what I was trying to say, and would struggle to complete any piece of written work. Once I realized that perfection can grow from imperfection, I was able to really focus on getting the ideas down on the page, and coming back to fix the words later. It also helped me become more comfortable with peer review.
As a shy junior in a class full of seniors, hearing that every student would present one piece from every section (personal essays, poetry, fiction and playwriting) to the entire class made me so scared that I considered dropping the class completely. It wasn’t until the first time I presented that I realized every student felt the same way I did when they stood up and presented their pieces. We were all sharing very personal work. It made sense that I had butterflies. After a while, those butterflies occurred not because I was nervous to share my work, but because I was eager to hear the feedback I would get from my classmates. I realized that all published authors receive criticism even though they've had their work reviewed. You would make us sit quietly while our pieces were critiqued, to teach us that the point of constructive criticism is to make sure that the authors thoughts are being properly transferred to the page, and while not everyone will agree with what the author may write, at least, they will understand what the author was trying to say. It was important to you that we didn’t try to correct the person who was critiquing us because if we were to publish any work, we couldn’t be sitting on the reader’s shoulder, correcting them every time they read something wrong.
Now I don’t know if every creative writing teacher has had as much of an entertaining life as you have had, but I want to thank you for sharing your life stories with the class, no matter how awkward or personal they were. They made me look forward to growing up and seeing what kinds of interesting things life might hand me if I have the courage to pursue new opportunities. You always encouraged openness and kind honesty, and what I really want to thank you for is teaching by setting a good example for your students. You changed all of our lives and made us confident writers, and for that, we are so grateful.
