Thanks Kacey! We all need encouragement every now and again. Thanks for yours!

Hello again;
Really my name Lisa with a”S”, but I thought it would be fun for a change to call myself Liza. thanks Lisa and keep up the good work!

Thanks Liza with a ‘z’, not Lisa with an ‘s’ (very old song)!

I used to think for a long time that my Miss H. was wrong, and this kept me in a self-pity space, far away from writing. After I have realised that all she did was what everyone did in the culture I grew up, and that is compare ourselves and others to somebody else. Consequently any aspiring writer was compared to writers we’ve been studying at school. In that she was completely right: I was never as good as them and never will be. What we both failed to see, and in that also most of people living and growing up in those times and culture, is that I didn’t have to write as anyone else by myself. And if my writing did sound naive to one person it didn’t have to sound like that to somebody else. My Miss H. had her many wonderful sides and her own story (a part of which is very hard and I wouldn’t wish it to anyone) and I have her in good memory, because there were many cases when she was utterly kind to me. At the same time I am immensely happy that the time and many cultures we live in today produce less and less Misses H. and more and more of encouraging and motivating teachers like yourself, Lisa. 🙂 I feel blessed living today and having found all these opportunities.
Happy writing and thank for replying my comment. 🙂

Thanks Elizabeth! When I was a teacher, I swore I would never discourage students no matter what their level of writing ability was, because I knew that sense of crushing defeat. I also never wrote another large piece again.

I did well in English but I would not put myself ‘out there’ with creative writing because I thought I sucked!

It scared me then, as it did when I was teaching, just how much power an educator’s praise, criticism or apathy can have!

I’m heartened that you are writing now and have a very supportive fan club of your children!

Thanks so much! It’s so important to have encouraging people in your life, no matter what age we are. We all need cheerleaders! Thanks for your well wishes – right back at you!

Thank you, then I have succeeded!

Love how you always encourage your own students, even if the impact can’t be seen immediately, some of your students might always remember you and blossom into the writers they were meant to be later in life! All the best, make the most out of this course 🙂