A Different Kind of Writer

Whew! Was that five weeks already? These kids have overflowed their thoughts, feelings, and memories, straight from their heads, hearts, and guts right onto paper. Some days are different than others. Some days, the writing just pours until suddenly there are pages written front and back, while some days take a little more prodding before we hit the flow. Several students will say, “I never knew I could write that much!”

They’ll say “I loved writing about when I scored all of those points at the game,” or “My favorite thing that I wrote was about my uncle who passed away.” Why? It brings those memories back to the present. It revives loved ones who have passed. They learn that writing about something materializes it into something tangible in their lives – something that can be their legacy.

Writing to express ideas, rather than writing to fill a requirement creates different types of writers. It creates the type of writers who rush to read their work aloud with pride. It creates honest writers who are transparent and thoughtful. It creates writers who write because they want to give us a piece of themselves for the sake of soulful retraction rather than duty. It teaches these writers to pull from that soulful gut place when they do have to write for duty- and to do it joyfully.

And though we mentor them in their writing process and help guide them, they mirror it back to us interns. Aside from refreshing us with their radiant personalities and vivacious spirit, the kids made me a stronger writer as well. They taught me the vital lesson of unlearning and relearning things – a virtue valuable in both writing and in life. They learned to focus on content rather than mechanics. They learned to write it first, and check it later. They learned to spew, revisit, gush, unpack, and analyze their thoughts and experiences. And as we work on compiling and editing this book, we do the same; we unlearn and we learn. We learn from their stories, unlearn what we thought we knew, and relearn with a revived vision, hoping that one day in the future, they will hold the books they wrote as kids and unlearn and relearn new truths too.