Hannah Hugs Trees

The evolution of my writing has been an interesting one and, throughout it all, I’ve never doubted my skill. That is, until now.

I’ve never had a problem with writing. I filled notebooks to capacity during my childhood. I thrived in every composition class during high school. I excelled at every term paper during college. Now, not even two years out of college, when I read my old work, I’m stunned. At only seventeen, my writing was witty, sophisticated, and concise. Then, it came so easily. These days, I sometimes doubt if anything I’ve written in the last two years has surpassed my work from before then.

It’s not that I have a problem with writer’s block. Naturally, it comes in spurts but usually departs swiftly and politely.

More importantly, when I read my old pieces, I have to put them in context. Back then, I was a different person and that’s clearly reflected in my writing. At first glance, it seems like my writing was deeper and more colorful. Indeed, I certainly had a way with describing things in immaculate detail. Since then, however, my writing hasn’t lost its depth. I’ve only become better trained at expressing ideas in a different way. Heck, I had to reprogram my brain to shift from creative writing to technical communication to survive college. Out with the extraneous, in with the essential.

For my peace of mind, I have to believe that I’m only experiencing normal growing pains in my writing. When I was a kid, I saw the film Are We Done Yet? in which a family encounters one problem after another while remodeling their house. At one point, with the house completely gutted and looking like a war-zone, the contractor says, “it’s gonna get ugly before it gets pretty.” That’s been a motto of mine ever since, especially during years of art competitions and architecture projects. It’s a classic “keep the faith” type of expression that has seen me through some rough times. (Archies, you feel me, right?)

So, it’s likely that my writing is in a developmental stage. I’m only just beginning to marry my artistic expression with my technical prowess. (Yeah, especially now because teaching English makes me question every word that I write. Fun stuff.) Sure enough, it’s gonna get pretty. Hopefully, that’s gonna be pretty soon, considering that I’ll need to write constantly next year in my master’s program.

Sure, it’s not like I’m inarticulate. I know that I’m fairly skilled with words. Regardless, the moral of the story is to always strive to be better.

The featured photo is courtesy of Free-Photos via Pixabay.