CSSSA Prompt #1 (Introduce Yourself)
I’ve always been pretty good at writing. That sounds more conceited than it actually is, I promise. My highest accomplishment in creative writing (prior to getting into CSSSA) was a third-place prize in 3rd grade for the county’s poetry contest. I got to go up and read out my poem in front of 30 or so people, all there to see their children receive awards. When I got home, my certificate went in a storage box. And that’s where I stagnated, always “pretty good” and never great. Full of potential but never quite talented. I never really wrote enough to challenge those standards, and I’m pretty sure my dad’s old laptop is still full of half-stories, ideas with a few hundred words of thought that were never finished after they were begun.
So what am I doing at CSSSA, a program for the talented kids, for the great ones who pour hours into passion projects and create masterpieces from the heart? How could I even hope to compete against people who are writing novels and poetry even while teenagers? Well, I’m not competing, I’m learning. I want to overcome the fear of imperfection. I want to create. This may be over the top and self-indulgent for an intro prompt, but that’s why I’m doing these prompts, and it’s why I’m going to CSSSA.