It was almost exactly one year ago today I wrote my first post on this website where all of you helped me choose a cover for my book Heaven on the Hardwood, and I’ve been utterly amazed how rewarding this journey has been since! I never thought I’d get so much out of writing not only my book, but writing these posts each week as well. The process has allowed me to learn a lot on how to look at things from different perspectives and has allowed me to grow in my relationships with others and with God. It has truly been an unforeseen blessing that I never thought I’d be involved with!
A lot of you would probably be surprised to learn that before I began writing my book, I never was a huge fan of writing. In fact, growing up in school, I really disliked writing for a plethora of reasons. I thought it was boring, tiresome, and irrelevant–especially since I didn’t really think anyone cared what I had to say.
I remember my first writing class I had as a freshman at the University of Missouri–English 1000. I LOATHED that class! We had to write these long papers analyzing these obscure paintings that didn’t seem to apply to my life in any way. And to make matters worse, the professor–Mrs. Mack–was super meticulous when it came to grading our work and would deduct points for the smallest of errors!
I somehow pulled out a decent grade in that class, but I decided at that point that I would only take the minimum number of writing intensive classes required to graduate, because at that point writing seemed like nothing but a wearisome chore to me!
Little did I know that when I did decide to write a book I often found myself referring to the lessons I learned from Mrs. Mack in her English 1000 class I took as a freshman in college. In her class, I learned how to make my writing “come alive,” how to condense my writing to be efficient and effective, and how to properly edit my writing to where it could make sense to readers.
The fact is that if it wasn’t for Mrs. Mack and her frustrating insistence on attention to detail, my book probably would never have happened, and if it did, it would have been a subpar read at best.
Moral of the story? Don’t assume that you’ll never use the lessons and experiences you’re going through right now later on in your life–no matter how irrelevant they might seem to you at the moment.
I never in a million years thought Mrs. Mack’s random assignments would have any real impact on me outside of making my first semester at Mizzou miserable, but I was wrong! You never know what God may be doing in your life right now to prepare you for the future, so I want to encourage you to take on any challenge you may be facing with a more receptive attitude than I had when I was a freshman, and you’ll get all you can out of even the most frustrating tasks you may be working through!
Oh and if you’re interested in checking out any of my past posts, you can always scroll through the “Archives” tab on the right side of my page to see how I’ve grown as a writer over this past year! Looking back, it’s amazing how far I’ve come as a so-called “blogger.”
For a small taste, below are my top 10 posts I’ve had the pleasure of writing (in no particular order). I hope you enjoy!
3) “My Grown Up Christmas List”
4) “Lessons from the Lion King”
6) “How Running Almost Killed Me”
8) “Am I Good Enough for God?”
Thanks so much for all your support and encouragement as I continue to write these posts. Your kind words make it all the easier for me to sit down and write them each week!
-BH
Brady Hammond 