Flipping the Tables on My Fear
Engage’s Challenge on ‘Fear Kills Dreams’ dredges up memories of a crushing moment in my early writing life
One story. One critique. One broken heart. That’s all it took to crush this gal.
It would take another twenty-five-plus years before I would try to write again.
It was a college creative writing class that killed my dreams. Or, more precisely, the fellow students in the class. They held the dagger that they collectively thrust into my heart.
I was 20-years old and still pretty much afraid of my own shadow. I didn’t have any big college dreams. I had a job and my first apartment. It was all about survival. But I did have a $100 scholarship from high school that I could use to apply towards tuition at any college.
There was a junior college in Azusa, near my apartment. The scholarship was enough to pay for three classes. After that I was on my own. Just stepping out into the college world, away from my safe little zone was one of the hardest things I’d done up until then.
Don’t even ask me now why I chose these three classes: creative writing, guitar, and basic auto repair. What an odd combination. Like I said, don’t ask, because I wouldn’t have an answer to give you.
