Dear Mary-Lou

Dear MaryLou,



I always feel like Narcissus when I’m asked to tell people a bit about myself. And because I feel uncomfortable with it, I usually draw a blank, but I’ll do my best. I grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis with my mom, younger brother and sister. There’s a lot of sadness in my childhood so I tend not to talk about it, but in those memories are steals of happiness too. I remember playing outside with only the flicker of the streetlamps as signal that it was time to head home. I had a lot of friends, all of different backgrounds and cultures. And although we were on the lower end of the income ladder, I think in the long run it made me appreciate things more and work harder to take care of the things I have now.



My mom was the main influence in my reading habits, which were instilled at a young age. I enjoyed all the works of Dahl, with BFG and Matilda being a couple of my favorites, and C.S Lewis with his Narnia series really let my imagination run wild. It gave way to the reader that I am today. I can consume a thousand page book in about a week if it’s a good one. I like fiction mostly, with Stephen King and Gregory MacGuire taking the helm. I guess that’s why it’s sort of funny to me that until two years ago I didn’t see myself as a writer at all.



It’s a good story too, if not a little insulting to a certain author. After much prodding and nagging from my best friend, I read the Twilight series. You want my personal opinion? It was awful. I even thought, “Theresa, you could write better than this!” At the time it had just been my sarcasm playing up again. Until then, I’d only ever seen myself as becoming a comic book artist of sorts. Of course, duh, a comic book artist is somewhat of a storyteller anyway. I was sure I lacked the skill to write anything worthwhile, but I tried it despite my doubt. I found out that I absolutely love writing fiction, even if I need to work on grammar and punctuation. They’ve always been my weaknesses in past academic essays. I believe I truly shine in descriptive writing, with little snippets of real world perspective thrown in here and there.



As far as learning goes, mechanics are probably what I’m most concerned with when it comes to taking this class. I’ve always been a great independent learner. I’m capable of working in groups, mind you, but I feel that I don’t try as hard if I have others to rely on when it comes to the work. My opinion of a good teacher is one that, although nice, can be open about what a student did wrong in their assignments. Honesty has always been something I cherish. I would much rather pout for a little while about something I did wrong, and get the tools to fix it, than go on believing that it was perfect the first time. I hope that makes sense. As a student, I want to know where I stand as far as pursuing a career in writing, and I want to know that I’m not trouncing around looking like an idiot who can’t put together proper punctuation in a sentence.



Ernest Hemingway once said, “All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know.” I hope that with enough practice and effort, I get pretty good at writing honest lies.