My early thoughts on writing were paralyzing. English classes on grammar, parts of speech, sentence construction, dangling participles, etc., had left me thoroughly confused and afraid to write anything. I managed term papers by extensively quoting other authors. Surprisingly, I got some good grades on them. My goal was to consistently dodge putting words to paper. Then I decided to go to college. No escape from writing in college.
I enrolled in a class called “Communications” and that’s where I met Lloyd. Lloyd was a student teacher. He was completing his master’s degree in teaching. I will paraphrase from memory the speech he gave to the class on the first day of school. It changed my thoughts, inspiring me to write.
Lloyd paraphrased:
Welcome to communications. In this class we will write something every day. It can be a sentence, a paragraph, or a full page, but nothing more than one page. I will take up the writings and randomly choose a few to read to the class. We will then discuss how well the author communicated. You will not be graded on grammar, sentence structure, language rules or even a misspelt word. You will be graded on how well you have communicated your thoughts.
Writing is easy, if you can talk, you can write. Writing is putting talk to paper. When you pause put a comma, when you stop put a period. Colons say “look ahead for something important.” Semi-colons allow you to group items larger than a word, but smaller than a sentence. When asking a question use a question mark. When you get excited about something use an exclamation point. Writing is as natural as talking.
When you come to class there will be a topic on the blackboard. If you want, it is OK to write on a topic of your choosing. Finally, if you don’t want to participate in this class you can earn a “D” by having perfect attendance. Good writing.
I was stunned and heartened by Lloyd’s words and began in earnest to put my talk into writing. I gained confidence as the semester continued. I even began to enjoy writing. Today I have a large web site and blog, and surprisingly I have authored three books. You meet a teacher like Lloyd rarely in life and they are so welcome. Thanks forever, Lloyd.
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