I hated having to read my writing aloud during high school. I have always had high expectations for myself and my writing skills never seemed to reach those expectations. I typically avoid the things I am not good at, unless it is something I am not expected to be good at, like ice skating or karate, and since writing is basically a universal expectation, I felt like it was best if I just stayed away from it as best I could. I have always loved to read, however, and I think that I felt it necessary to write as well as the authors of the books I was engaged in; Wuthering Heights, Pride and Prejudice, Modoc and Lord of the Flies are some of my many favorites. I started to gravitate towards magazine articles from Vogue and National Geographic, because they seemed to be more realistic; they were most often nonfiction and they also were able to come and go as they pleased. The author could start and end wherever they wanted to, without needing to impress anyone. I always felt like I needed to impress someone with my writing--a teacher, fellow classmate, someone. But with the Vogue articles, it seemed like the author simply wrote down what they were experiencing, and that seemed less dangerous to me. Now I have so many copies of Vogue and National Geographic that I don't know where to put them all!