Book of D: Logophiles and Bibliophiles Are US

In all honesty, my readers or reader 😁, words are truly beautiful - as are books. I have always had a lisp. I remember attending elementary and being bullied because of my lisp. Never mind the fact that my lisp was a direct result of having been born with a cleft-palate defect. My lisp often dictated the kind of day I was going to have. If I had to talk a lot, my lisp would get further impeded by a stutter. That freaking stutter still stifles me to this day. Because I hated talking aloud or making speeches to large crowds, writing and reading became my world. I could go a few days without reading, but my mood would be hindered something awful if I went more than one day without writing. I am not the best writer in the world, but I have won a few essay competitions and always did really well on essays and research papers while an undergrad and grad student. One of my graduate professors would often praise my writing and ask if he could use my essays and research papers as an example for his grad students to use. The professor is known for his difficult expectations as far as grading goes. I had him as an undergrad for psychology courses, and as a graduate student, I had the prof for COUN 6372 Counseling Theory, COUN 6373 Career Dev. & Counseling, and COUN 6387 Pharmacology. All are very structured with finite meaning and terminology. I received an A+ in all his classes, respectively, my grades were 98.90, 98.64, and 96.34. I took Statistics with him, too, as an undergrad and received a grade of 103.85 (his extra credit was not easy to obtain, but I did it). I did well as a non-traditional student; most of the group work and assignments saw other students wanting me on their team because they knew I would be dedicated, hardworking, and serious. Plus. it is a known fact that older students tend to care more about a good GPA and making good grades. I relished my time as a student. I loved the many hours of reading, writing, and researching that was required - if you wanted good grades. None of it really scared me because I never lacked in self-assurance when it pertained to reading and writing. But, when it came to speech courses and public speaking, I suddenly got all stupified and I usually stumbled. I am not as scared or tortured these days of public speaking especially because my current job often mandates that I conduct presentations to large groups of students and their parents. Plus, the countless times I had to student-teach and lecture during grad school helped me to become a better and more calm speaker. Still, I prefer to write. My dream job was to be a writer for Saturday Night Live (SNL). I know it is very competitive to be a writer for shows like SNL and other Hollywood based shows, but I really think I could have succeeded at it. I would have even loved my own syndicated (or not syndicated) column like the one Carrie Bradshaw has on Sex and the City. While I do regret never having pursued life as a professional writer, I still find great pleasure in writing. Whether I write for myself or provide content writing, I love it. Maybe one day I will become the next Stephen King, Anne Rice (rest in peace), or J. K. Rowling, but for now, I will bask in the beauty within the writing realm and spew out written words, my own or those learned from reading the hundreds of books that took me on no expense vacations. I will keep dreaming up words and using them in proper context (or not), and I will appreciate my love of everything reading and writing because as long as I have the ability and adoration for the both, I am rich.