Before we are great...

Not everyone starts out great. You have to fail before you are good at anything in life. I've been writing ever since I could pick up a pencil. Nowadays, I think my writing is pretty decent and I'm not ashamed to flaunt it to my teachers and stuff. But when I look back on the things I wrote long ago (three years ago) I want to take a match to it and forget that it ever existed.

But I can't do that. Though my old stories may not be as good as the ones I write today, they are still apart of me. Those characters are still apart of me.

A story that epitomizes this bond I feel with my old writing, is Hazel. I wrote it the summer I turned eleven. The night after I finished reading Jane Eyre I opened up a new document on my computer and start typing away.


Here is a snippet from the story:

It was almost night time when Miss Hilda called for Erin. Erin had dressed in her best clothing and quietly entered her mother's room. Miss Hilda gestured for Erin to sit beside her.
It was quiet for a couple of minutes but then Miss Hilda began to speak.
" You remind me so much of your father. So you will lead a life similar to his." Hilda said coughing
" I pray that I will Miss Hilda." Erin replied closing her eyes
" Your eyes remind me every day of the loser I married." Hilda continued angrily
" That's why you hate me?" Erin asked trying not to cry
" You are cheerful even after I scold you. You are kind even when shown no kindness. I tried for years to break you like I've broken your father but it just hasn't worked yet." Hilda replied softly
" Trying to break me will be like asking for an early grave, Miss Hilda." Erin said coldly
" I know it but I will not give up." Hilda agreed, coughing
" My father and I are stronger than you, together." Erin said
" Please that man is weaker than Winston and you're nothing but an ugly child." Hilda said chuckling
" I don't have to sit here and listen to this." Erin said getting up
" But I have everything you need to know about your future right here in my mind." Hilda exclaimed smiling
" You lie, Miss Hilda!" Erin shouted
" You will be alone in life and will die alone for no one will ever love a hideous face such as yours." Hilda screamed angrily
" I will not become you! You are the one who will die alone and you are the one who will never be loved by me or my father or anyone else." Erin snapped running out of the room
The next day Miss Hilda died in her sleep. No one was by her side and no one had loved her. When the body was taken out of the house, Erin didn't shed a tear for she was happy to have her father and no one else. All day Erin's father had shut himself up in his room and didn't come out. Erin started to worry about him because she thought he would be happy. Then she remembered the sincerity in his eyes when Miss Hilda lied there passed out from the cold. Had Michael really loved Hilda?
After making dinner, Erin ran up to her father's door and knocked on it softly.
" Father, I made dinner if you are hungry." Erin said
" I'm not hungry." Michael replied grimly
" Then I will come in and make you eat." Erin said opening the door
When she opened the door, Erin saw her father on the floor crying. Erin quickly rushed to her father's side and held him close.