Clumsy Chelle

I am a frustrated writer. If I haven’t taken-up BC I could have pursued Journalism. But eventually, I love numbers more than sentences and idiomatic expressions.  I actually don’t enjoy my English class much as I do with my Math class. For one good reason, subject-verb agreement gives me headache! Eversince Grade 3 or 4 until I reached college, plus the elective subjects namely Creative Writing and Business English (aside from the usual English subject) that I had to take-up wayback when I was in highschool, I still haven’t mastered the golden rules of subject-verb agreement. Hmp! Well, somehow, though I dislike language rules, I take pleasure of reading literary materials and idolize Shakespeare, Charles Dickens and J.K. Rowling. I became fond of reading the Leisure section in the newspaper and cutted out interesting feature clippings. Right then, my passion for writing started.

(Sidestory: Earlier, when I was in Grade 6, I was chosen to be part of the pool of writers who would be competing for the District Level in Journalism Contest against other schools.  After a series of exams to test our comfort zone, so as where to place us, I ended up under Feature Writing. But still, I have to make a choice whether I would be on Filipino or English category. And guess what? Of course, since I hate English and not having enough confidence on expressing my thoughts using the English language, I chose the very comfortable zone-Filipino. In the end, my foes were the ones who brought home the bacon , though luckily, some of my team mates won on their respective categories).   

When I reached highschool, I was able to contribute an article in our school organ (achievement! Whoohoo!!!). My writing frustrations continued until I entered college. Then, finally, when I reached my Junior year, my writing career dream found its fulfillment when I was appointed to become the Editor-in-Chief of the official newsletter of our college – the Koop.Works. Whoa! The appointment sent shivers down my spine because I only know little about journalism! I’m so afraid that I will not be able to meet the expectations of the faculty and mainly, of the readers. And then, here goes again the small voice within me, echoing at back of my head and telling me that I have no right to be the EIC and edit such works because I, for myself, often forgot the essentials of the English grammar! Oh no!!!  Nevertheless, I struggled to throw away my strife towards my greatest critique above all-my inner self called super ego and equipped myself with my larger than life guiding principle “I can do all things through Him who gives me strength” …Thank goodness, me and my staff (who happens to be frustrated writers too, except Richelieu) were able to release four (4) issues in a span of two years. And in fairness to the whole editorial staff, the readers’ responses were so much overwhelming. As for me, I really learned a lot especially to Mam Hermie, our consultant. (Achievement ule!!!>wink ..wink<)

One day, my Dude lend me a book entitled TWISTED, a compilation of Jessica Zafra’s hilarious pieces. Apparently, just when I thought that I am a good writer, I suddenly realized that my articles are as bad as a gradeschooler’s very first Informal Theme composition. My grammar sucks, and I don’t know how to play with words just like other writers do… just like what Jessica Zafra is doing in her column. My works lack in adjectives, similes and metaphors, idioms and the likes. In short it doesn’t have a zest to spice-up the readers’ minds. Whew! Oh no!!!!

So, the bottomline, the very reason I’m doing this blogging is basically to hone my writing skills. I’ll be posting soon my previous pieces and of course my new ones and hopefully, you people, would observed the evolution of my writing ability and see improvements. Ciao! (It’s almost 3 a.m. nstiff neck n ku…)