When I Grow Up...

I always change my mind many times about what I want to do with my life. When I was younger I had my mind set on being a doctor. Well, I soon found out that wasn't the the job for me. I have considered being a photographer, a model, a fashion designer, an interior decorator, and architect, and artist, an author and even just being a housewife.
Well, earlier this year I had to take the DWA (Direct Writing Assessment). The DWA is a test that grades 3-9 take every year. They give a prompt that tells you what kind of essay it is and what you have to write about. You get 90 minutes to write your essay. Then all of the teachers in the state get together and score the essays. The scores are form 1-4. 1 being below basic, 2 is needs improvement, 3 means proficient and if you get a rare 4, then your essay is fantastic. To get us ready for the DWA, my English teacher taught us the proper structure for an essay, theses statement and all. By the time the DWA came around I felt confident about it. But when the paper was sitting in front of me and the timer was ticking, my mind was a blank slate. The prompt was: Write an expository essay about if you had one wish, what would would it be, and how would it effect society? It took me 40 minutes to even decide what my wish would be. When I looked at the clock and saw I only had 50 minutes to wright the rough draft and final draft I panicked. I started to brainstorm about how being able to live in the books you read would help society, but I didn't have time to brainstorm. So I started my rough draft, forgetting everything I learned about the structure of an essay. I began it with, "Land Ho!" and I wrote my first paragraph like an introduction to a book. Then I continued my essay with how people would enjoy reading more and it would be a "doorway to imagination". I worked right up to the last millisecond, and I just barely finished my fifth paragraph when the timer went off.
Then it hit me. I didn't have the thesis statement or a conclusion, and my body paragraphs were almost about the same things. I turned it in hoping that maybe I could scrape by with a 2.5. Colleges look at the DWA score to see of your a good writer or not. I couldn't believe I bombed the essay! I worried about it for weeks on end. It ate me alive. When I asked my friends what they did their topics on they all replied with things like "world peace" and "stop hunger" or "to have a better relationship with my family". I thought my wish sounded childish, and I wished that I had chosen something more mature. Soon my friends got tired of hearing me complaining so I quit worrying out loud, but it was always in my subconscious.
All of my worry vanished a week ago. My teacher told the class that she got the scores from the DWA back. She said that there was a total of seven fours, and that I was one of them! My subject wasn't childish after all, and the structure didn't matter! I was one happy camper. I just about jumped out of my chair and started screaming, I was so happy.
So what does this have to do with what I want do do with my life? Ill tell you after this little tidbit. Currently I have to write a research paper challenging that text messaging is bad. My English teacher read my rough draft yesterday, and told me that she hopes that I want to be a writer. She told me that my work is great, and that I have a talent. She also told me that she would be more than happy to recommend me for a creative writing class for juniors and seniors. Juniors and seniors. I had been wishing to be in that class but I'm only going to be a sophomore. I was ecstatic. I couldn't believe my ears! Me. In a creative writing class. For juniors and seniors. Wow.
And now this is where my future comes in. I finally found something I'm good at. So now I'm pondering over what kind of writer I want to be. I could be a journalist, a book writer, a reporter, a researcher, a columnist, a blogger, the choices are infinite! I have tried to write books before but I always thought they werent good enough. So I'm going to try again. I love reading like I love music. Writing is a great way to express yourself and to share your triumphs with the world.