From the Beginning By Vickie Stam

"She prints very good stories and knows all her reading words." These words leap from the page of my 1971 report card; one of the few my mother kept.   

"Vickie reads well with comprehension applying phonetic and word attack skills without difficulty." A year later, at the tender age of eight, I'm still doing very well with syntax. My formation of words is coming together. I smile at the very thought of my teacher's comments. I only wish my mother had kept some of those stories from long ago.  

But, what I discovered when I read those old report cards is that they indeed mark the first real evidence of my writing apprenticeship. The start of a passion. I learned at a very young age to "attack words" -- hear the individual sound of the letters, link them together and build a relationship among them. I learned that stringing words together would form a sentence and eventually a story. An expression of me!

In grade six my report card brings more great news. The letter, "A" stares back at me in bold blue ink; smack dab beside the subjects, spelling and phonics. I see this marvelous achievement as a stepping stone to something bigger; something I know could only have come from God. The letter "B" is penned beside the task of written expression. It's clear that writing still agreed with me.        

Unfortunately, those are the only report cards I have. Each time I look at them I'm reminded of the fact that I liked words then and still do today. 

As I jump forward in time, the memories flip like a slide show in my mind. I can see myself sitting at my desk. My English teacher's blond hair barely moves as she strolls up and down the aisles between our seats. She allows us to hide an open bag of chips in the cavity of our desks. We're granted permission to eat them during class, "Only if you promise to do it quietly." She says. Hmmm...a challenge for me. She was quite the teacher! She would belt out the day's lesson, pronouncing each word with such clarity and then proceed to rake the white chalk across the black board up front. The thought of her nails catching the chalk board still makes me shiver.  

Not only did she want us to use our visual skills, she wanted us to listen; something that would also become quite an essential part of the writing process. All writer's use words to unlock the senses. The things we see, hear, smell, taste and touch need to paint a picture.

That was 1979 and like most teenagers, I remember thinking, I can't wait to get out of here. My social life seemed much more important. Even so, nothing deterred me from earning high marks in English. My passion for writing was there even if I didn't acknowledge it at the time.  

In my twenties I entered a poem in a poetry contest. Nothing ever came of it but the desire for me to submit something was obviously sparked when I came upon the request for submissions. 

But, the biggest turning point for me in my writing journey came in 2010 when I enrolled in a writing class at the University almost an hour's drive from my home. What was I thinking? I remember wondering if I'd made a mistake. My stomach flipped several times on the drive to school yet I walked out at the end of my first class -- on fire. I could hardly wait to do my homework.   

I'm not brimming with any outstanding advice, really. But if there is one piece of encouragement I can offer to someone, it would be, "Never let someone tell you that you cannot write." If you feel it --- write it. 

Unlike other types of apprenticeships, no one paid me while in the process of learning. I simply write because the evidence shows that it's been in me from the very beginning.  


Psalm 139:13-14

"For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well."
                     

Shoot For The Moon - A Lesson Learned from Apprenticeship - Gloria Guest

Super Moon - Photo taken by Reg Guest

I’ve never really thought of my life long pursuit of writing in terms of an apprenticeship but upon looking up the definition I realized that is what it has been. I particularly related to one definition which basically defined it as someone who works under an employer to learn a skill while agreeing to low wages. That pretty much sums up my entire time working in the trenches as a reporter; one of the more gruelling ways you can attempt to make a living with your words, but one well worth it if you are looking for excitement, love to work with deadlines or just have newspaper ink in your veins. Regardless, the lessons you will learn will be immeasurable and invaluable to your writing career and your life.

 According to another definition, an apprenticeship is a way of training in a trade or profession, often while employed but also including studying.  As writers we are always in some form of on the job training even if the job is simply our own task at hand; to submit an article, to publish a book or more. Life as a whole becomes our classroom as does the internet, writing groups, and/or writing classes.

This past fall I entered into an apprenticeship that has proven of immense value to me through partaking in two on-line writing classes from the University of Toronto; Intro To Creative Writing/Fiction and Writing Through Reading. Both classes are a part of a larger Creative Writing Certificate I hope to attain. In the first class, although I expected to know most of the material since it was an introductory class, I was surprised to find that there were many things I hadn’t learned previously. I am still more of a beginner than I realized! Writing is a craft after all and we never fully come to the end of developing that craft.

In the Introductory class I was challenged to go deeper with my character and plot development and gained a lot of insight into my own writing style through the comments of my instructor and other classmates. A strength that was pointed out was my realistic dialogue, with the suggestion that I could possibly do well writing script for plays, something I have thought of once or twice but hadn’t seriously considered. A weakness I discovered was Point Of View; learning how to use it best for each piece of writing I did and to not shift out of it. I so appreciated all of the constructive feedback that brought me along in POV.

Writing Through Reading was an immensely interesting class whereby we read various authors works and discussed them thoroughly within the group, thereby gleaning much knowledge as to story structure, plot, character and many other aspects of the piece. We then completed our own assignment based on what we had learned and often had the chance to re-work a piece for another assignment. In this class I developed my critique reading skills and editing skills. I was also strongly encouraged by my instructor and others to keep on writing my memoir; parts of which I had shared with them.

I have been bogged down in my writing life for quite a few years with aimlessness and no particular goals in sight. As Zig Ziglar said, “If you aim for nothing, you will hit it every time.” From taking these two classes I have now set a personal goal to finish my memoir within a year. I also plan on continuing with the classes to attain my Creative Writing Certificate and to start the Editing Certificate through Simon Fraser University in B.C.

These goals are setting the bar pretty high for me and I don’t expect them to be easy. I may even fail at some of them or at all. But as Norman Vincent Peale so famously said, “Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”