Yesterday, in my "Writing for Children" class at Marianopolis College, another one of my students said something deep about writing. Today's quote comes from Kelly G., who is thinking of doing her next assignment (the first chapter of a YA novel) on an Indian girl living in Canada who is hooked on Bollywood movies. Great idea, Kelly! Well, yesterday, Kelly and I were reviewing herwork after class, and she said, "I'm not that good a writer -- YET."
As you can see by my use of capital letters, my favourite part of Kelly's sentence was her use of the word YET. You see, what Kelly understands is something very deep about writing: it's a never-ending process. We writers, and this includes professionals as well as college students and anyone else who writes for that matter, are constantly working on our writing. Frankly, I'm not sure we'll ever arrive at a point where we'll be able to say, "Wow, I'm good!" In fact, perhaps it's this constant striving to move forward and to more effectively communicate what's in our heads and hearts -- that has hooked on writing in the first place.
Another thing I love about what Kelly said is that she has confidence in her own abilities. She knows that the harder and the longer she works at her writing, the better it's going to get.
Do wish I could do a little writing of my own today -- but I've got another batch of correcting on the dining room table. Off I go to attack it! Hearing students like Kelly say wise, hopeful things about writing helps keep me going when my correcting arm gets tired. Hope Kelly's words help inspire readers of this blog, too.