The Essay

I'm a creative minor, and I love writing just as much as every other creative writing student. But every now and then, I read my classmates' essays and marvel at their word choice, their lyrical sentences and flawless imagery... and a small voice in my head says, "You'll never be able to write like that."

Over the weekend, I slaved away at my 5-paged essay for my Travel Writing class. Rumor has it that my professor is really strict with grading. When I turned it in on Monday, my professor asked if any of us wanted to share our essays and I shrunk away from the spotlight because I was embarrassed about my essay. I thought it was a weak attempt at travel writing, and after listening to several of my classmates' essays, I felt worse about mine. I'd saved myself the embarrassment of reading it aloud in class... or so I thought.

Today, 5 minutes before class ended, my professor suddenly announced, "I think we still have time to read one essay. I'd like to read Carissa's, actually." He looked across the table at me. "If you don't mind?"

"No, not at all," I smiled. But inside, I was nervous.

"I'd like you all to pay attention to what I'm about to read," my professor told the class, and I cringed. He's probably going to start listing out the mistakes.

So he began reading.

The class listened in silence as he read with his posh British accent (my classmate's right - he can really consider a career producing audiobooks, actually). Somehow, as I listened to him reading my words aloud, I thought my essay didn't sound so bad. It seemed much more tolerable.

Then, when he finished, he said something along the lines of: "This is a great example of travel writing." He proceeded to talk positively on it, and my classmates nodded their heads in agreement. I sat there, dumbstruck.

Did he really just praise my essay to the entire class? Wow. Just... WOW. :)

So I returned home, smiling from ear to ear. Grinning so wide that people probably thought I was nuts. But when you've spent so much time and effort working on an essay, it's great to know it's well-appreciated in the eyes of others.

Still happy!