What Event Helped You Develop Yourself as a Writer

An important event that helped me develop my self as a writer and reader began in high school. I was sitting in English class when my teacher handed us a paper with our assignment written on it. The assignment was to write an autobiography of myself. When she explained the assignment I was immediately nervous and confused. I was nervous because I had to write about myself and someone else had to read it. I was confused because I didn't know where to start, where to end, and what I wanted people to know about me. I must have read the assignment sheet at least 20 times hoping I'll find something different or something more simple that wasn't so personal and didn't require me to write about myself.

I sat and pondered for two days. My brainstorming sheet was completely clear of anything except my name. I didn't know where to start and what to include. I tried to find ideas on the internet but that was useless because the only person that could know my life story was me. After all the procrastinating I finally went to my teacher and asked for help. I asked her where to start and how to end. She then advised me to just write what I knew best because nobody knows you better than yourself. She said to start back as far as I could remember and let the pen do the rest.

After school I went home and I sat down once again and started off brainstorming what I remembered about the early part of my life. I wrote down stories my mom told be about from birth, then I wrote down things I remembered about preschool and kindergarten like being in my first play and taking class pictures. I continued all the way through 8th grade where I talked about the senior dance and the excitement of graduating. Then I put down what I remember about my family moving after my 8th grade graduation and how I felt about the move. I moved to Highland Park the summer after graduation. It was totally different than what I was used to. I went from living in a predominately black neighborhood, to living in a predominately white neighborhood. It was very difficult getting used to the big change and starting high school in a new place without knowing a single person on top of being a minority. It was difficult at first but eventually I did adjust and ceased the opportunity to meet new friends and enjoy new experiences.

After sketching about my life I began to brainstorm about my family and the things we do together and how we stay close. I talked about how we cook together every Tuesday and how we also have big family dinners together every Sunday. We also take a family road trip to Florida to visit my extended family. I also brainstormed about my fears, my goals and how I wanted to succeed in life. I always loved kids since I could remember. I want to be a teacher because I wanted to work with younger kids and leave an impact on them that they could grow with. I always feared that I wouldn't make it as