Our son, Andrew saved some writing assignments he was given in school on my computer. While looking through a folder, I came across one of those assignments and thought you might enjoy it as much as I did.

From Andrew’s Past March 19, 2007

Dear Reader,

Thus far I’ve lived a grand total of almost 18 years. That’s 1,886,977 hours. I spent almost 200,000 of those hours reading and writing. For some students, this would be excessive. Most pupils, by the age of 18, have probably spent less than 100,000 hours reading and less than 50,000 writing. I believe right now I am at the top of my game. However, this doesn’t mean I enjoy every writing assignment I am given. To this day, I do not enjoy writing letters, editorials, and reflective pieces. I firmly believe that writing takes heart and a lot inner reflection. If you do not feel what you are writing about, then you will fail at writing because you didn’t have your heart in it.

I will give you some background about myself so that you can see the environment I grew up in. My parents were always reading. From newspapers, novels, and magazines, they read constantly – and still do. My elementary school days were not filled with a lot of outside activities and scraped knees. They were filled with dragon sorcerers and brave knights. Along with my parents, I read continuously. I even gained weight due to my constant inactivity, but I did not care; all I had to do was slip back into a fairy tale and drift away.

My elementary writing skills were the same as any other child’s. I printed especially well, but my cursive writing was even better. My words flowed fluently with no fear of writers block. I soon realized that my thoughts on the fiction world could now come to realization. We studied how to write short stories and essays. I even won the conservation essay writing contest during my fifth grade year. This became my greatest triumph at that time.

Middle school had the same ring to it. I read, but it was mainly for my own pleasure. The writings of Anne Rice and Stephen King now entered my world. Now vampires and horror stories took the place of dragons and fairy tales. Middle school was slow, but my literacy improved all the same. I even won an award for the best tree essay in sixth grade. In eighth grade, I won a blue ribbon in the science fair for my writing on plant growth.

In high school, I ventured into hard texts and wrote many difficult papers. Everything written in high school is especially important. There is a great focus on portfolios. As a matter of fact, you must have three English pieces and one non-English piece in order to graduate. I have written one paper on marriage, one on cell phone etiquette, a memoir, and this piece.

While in high school, I have read many novels by various authors including Agatha Christie, Alice Sebold, Harper Lee, John Steinbeck, Yann Martel, Walter Dean Myers, Alex Flinn, and many more. I feel my vocabulary has greatly increased since I entered high school and I know reading has had a lot to do with that. There were times when I did not want to read a certain book, but then I did, and I was glad. I am grateful for the teachers who pushed me forward, gave me constructive criticism, and believed in my writing skills. I am a better person for it today.