My High School Teacher Told Me I Would Never Become a Writer
So why are you even reading this?
I never thought about writing. Or about becoming a writer. That was never something that would cross my mind. At least not in my younger years.
My memories in school
Growing up in Germany the German language brought me many challenges. It wasn’t my mother tongue, but I spoke it since I was a toddler. Without any accent. But the subject of German in school was never my favorite one. I loved talking in class. Because there, I didn’t have to think. But writing an essay. A poem. A letter. A story. Whatever it was. It wasn’t for me. I didn’t get the grammar right. I would place the commas with the salt shaker.
That’s at least how my teacher described it. But I must say I tried. I really tried hard. I wasn’t the perfect student, but I had pretty good grades in almost all the subjects. (Except English. I hated the English language.) But I would always just be average in the exams in German.
And it happens somewhere during high school that I have this conversation with my teacher. I was handed the exam I wrote. Lots of red marks were all over it. I read them all. But I wasn’t happy. I wanted to do better. And so I asked him. How can I improve? What is it that I am not getting…
