The Journey to Become a Writer Then a Teacher of Writers

I am a writer. I have always been a writer. I have always known that I was a writer. Although no one ever told me it was so, I know—I am a writer. I have searched my memories, and I cannot remember a single teacher—at the elementary, secondary, undergraduate, or graduate level—that encouraged me as a writer, an artist of words. On one hand, that makes me sad. What would I have become if I had known that it was not odd for me to feel pleasure and receive comfort from writing? How could a student go through that many years without having even one teacher who valued writing for the sake of writing? On the other hand, years of skill-and-drill exercises made me great at grammar, usage, and mechanics—I even enjoy that part of the writing process. It also gives me hope that a young writer can blossom and grow under less-than-perfect circumstances.