You suck at writing

Don’t worry, this is not another post about AI.

I was never a big fan of English class.

Learning about nouns, verbs, predicate verbs, conjunctions, and gerunds made my head spin.

Who cares about diagraming sentences?

I remember the homework assignments to write a 500-word essay about a topic the teacher chose.

Usually, I had little interest or knowledge about the topic so writing about it was a challenge.

The internet didn’t exist, so I had to use our trusty World Book Encyclopedia to do the research.

I struggled to write 500 words and I used a lot of descriptive filler words.

I tried to write an interesting essay, but it was really hard for me.

Looking back, I know what the problem was.

My essay would come back marked up with RED pen and usually a big C- across the top of the page.

No matter how hard I tried, the teacher never helped me become a better writer.

Her encouragement was through the RED pen which always crushed my spirit.

I always felt like she was saying “You suck at writing Ted”.

Fast forward to today…