Where are we at?

 Hi guys, 

It's been a little while, and I apologize again. To put simply - I cannot write a book. I put a lot of time and research into the components of writing a book, including the mental capacity, the publishing, what it means to actually create a book. Honestly, I thought while rekindling my love for reading, which mostly includes the "BookTok" cheesy romance novels that all sound the exact same, I would be able to do that. I was wrong. Writing a book is not something that can be tackled as a 12-week project, at least not for me. However, that does not mean that I have not learned a lot.

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Instead, this attempt at trying to do something I should have realized would not have been entirely feasible, has taught me more about my future career as an English teacher, and how I can help kids in their writing AND reading styles. This does not mean that I have to write a book or be a published author to do so. Let's take a look at what I have learned, and how I can take this experience and research gathered to support my future students. 

1. Your writing and reading skills CAN be improved with the right mentality. 

        -What this means is that if you have other things on your mind, or something bothering you, or you simply are distracted, it can affect your creativity and capability to produce something amazing. I have not been fully attentive to my goals, and this is part of the reason I was not able to produce something similar to a book for this genius hour, but that does not mean I will never be able to. 

2. Despite thinking "everything has been done already" in terms of ideas or content, this is not true. 

        -We as writers, readers, and English learners have the capabilities to take anything we enjoy, love or are passionate about and write something with our own personal twists to it. I had quite a few ideas for a book/short story and although they sound like they have been done already, they haven't been done by me. Do not let the VAST majority of literature out in the world stop you from creating something worth while. 

3. Everyone reads differently, and some people understand reading differently. 

        -This was one of the biggest takeaways from my research, as I explored WHY and HOW we read, and how writing can transform the HOW we read, just by a simple switch of a word. Not only was this the most interesting part of my research because it was something I had been narrowly ignorant to (especially considering I am hoping to teach English) but the idea that one word to some readers can change the entire meaning of a sentence, if it is not read and understood the way the author intended to. 

These take-aways from my genius hour idea I feel are more important than the fact that I could not write a book as I initially intended to do for my final product. I have been more widely introduced to the concepts of reading and writing, which as a future English and History teacher, I feel are much more important than me writing a cheesy romance novel that although would have my own spin on it - has probably been done. Although I expressed it didn't matter, I personally would not have enjoyed doing that. I hope (despite my absences and limitations) that you were all able to enjoy the research I provided, and hopefully I moved someone just a little bit to further explore how their own reading or writing can influence somebody else, or perhaps my research has motivated someone else to write their own book. In that case, please make sure to dedicate the book to yours truly for the amazing ideas ;) 

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