Not all too long ago it seems, I started pretty low on the articulate ladder. I was a poor writer and a worse speaker. The only ways I made it through high school essays were rare bouts of inspiration, luck, and help from my linguistically inclined friend/roommate.
Then, there was the first turning point. I wanted to learn to speak. Jo-Anne coached me diligently and still does. Since I did not speak more than a sentence a week for more than half of my life to that point, there was a lot of work to be done. But I was determined to get to a point where I could express even basic ideas through words and therefore progressed quickly.
But as my rhetoric improved, I became aware of a gradually increasing chasm of inability between where my speaking was and where my writing was.
An idea came to me. An idea so ludicrous that had it not been so utterly persistent I could have easily tossed it off.
...write a fiction novel...
I had no experience in anything even close. The closest thing had been a five page long paper for English. And that wasn't even fiction. This suggestion was plum crazy.
So I decided it was a splendid idea.
My first draft of the first chapters... well... I might have a couple of sentences from that time. The second draft, you could tell that I was learning some concepts, but really not even close. The third draft was at least to the point where it could be edited into a passable work. And after all this I've started the fourth draft.
The transition to the fourth has been amazing. By making all these mistakes I've learned so much more than I could have otherwise.
That really came up recently. There have been several papers I've had to write already and several people have called me "a writer." My initial thoughts were the non-verbal equivalent of "...wha?..."
But then I've started reading and looking around. You see, when I was doing all of that development in writing, I wasn't interacting with anyone else's local writing. I had the blinders on and charged forward. But then to my surprise, I had found they were right, I guess I've kinda become "a writer."
I honestly never saw it coming. Maybe that's because I try things without the expectation of actually making it. I guess that's strange now that I'm thinking of how I see others learn. I've got the intention and drive as if I'm going to be the best, but no real hope that I'll ever make it.
Same thing happened with becoming a "speaker," an "encourager," an "artist," and a "composer," among other titles that I didn't actually think I'd attain, I'd just try to learn as much as I could and hope that some of it stuck.
