THE PENNY PUB | WRITING

Whatever You Do, Don’t Get Tossed Away

‘Don’t cross out’ and ‘don’t think’ is still the best writing advice!

by on (cropped by Author)

I vividly remember sitting in an armchair at five years old, trying with all my might to break the code of the symbols that filled the pages of my favorite book of Czech fairy tales.

Those squiggles, I knew, shared their secrets only with those who held the key to deciphering them. I couldn’t wait to learn to read so I could visit magical lands ruled by kings and queens, fire-breathing dragons, and evil witches who made toads out of princes.

I yearned more than anything to join the ranks of the keyholders, and by the time I finished first grade, with my index finger slowly tracing each line, I was granted the key to the land of books.

Even more thrilling was learning to write. I now had the power to create my own stories, to see my thoughts gather on the page as words that could magically create the same images in the reader’s mind that had swirled in mine when I wrote them.

I penned weekly letters to my grandparents, who lived in Slovakia. I’d sit at the kitchen table and begin each letter with the line, Dear Grandma and Grandpa, how are you? and then give a play-by-play of my days in school, how I…