Friday, September 9, 2011

Writing 101



                                                 
                                                           

My first writing class was last Wednesday, Aug 31st.  I found the school quickly and arrived  early enough to do some deep breathing.  I had no idea what to expect from the teacher and was nervous about meeting the other students.  I was out of my comfort zone.  Would there be any cyclists?

I took a seat at the front of the class. I don't want to miss anything.  I silently told my brain to check in and absorb everything. This class is important to me.  I will get out of it what I put into it.  That said, I plan to get my moneys worth.




There are nine of us in class.  How's that for a  student to teacher ratio?  Nicole, our teacher, asked us to introduce ourselves and explain why we were taking the class.   Out of the nine, seven work outside the home. A couple of the guys probably have to wear ties during the day.  After the introductions, we got down to business.

I attended Catholic School from the first grade until graduation.  We had to dissect sentences everyday in English class. I became a pro at finding the subject, verbs, adverbs, etc.  For our first class we were going to revisit and refresh what we learned in grade school.  What is an adverb?  What is a verb?  We pointed out the subject of the sentence and re-familiarized ourselves with nouns and pronouns, plural and singular. Are you still with me?   Does your brain hurt ?  Mine sure did.  I was surprised that I had remembered quite a bit after all these years.  Maybe I did learn something useful  in Catholic school.

Nicole gave us a handout that listed the " Rules of Writing".  Yes, there are rules.  If you want to take your writing to another level, another audience, or make money , you will need to follow them.  But, remember " rules are made to be broken" sometimes . The last fifteen minutes were spent in small groups  discussing the topics we had chosen.  Each student  would be responsible for writing one paper.  Can you guess what my topic is?


That statement really sums it up


                             

The hour and a half flew by so fast.  Dammit, I wanted more.  Nicole gave us  homework and we were dismissed.  I drove home that night excited and eager for my next class.   I did not feel intimidated at all by the class, teacher, or students.  This is going to be a good thing.





1 comment: