Vindication! I felt this sense of awe descend over me in that I had the power even to shock and amaze the teachers--that my writing wasn't anything "wrong" and that I could continue doing it and share it with my friends. You have to understand that going to a Catholic elementary school was a bit more stressful than attending a public school. Back in the '80s, you didn't want to mess around with certain nuns. They would still pull you by the ear and drag you out of your seat. Well, I opened up my copybook back up and continued reading my story to my friends. This piece of writing is the earliest record I have of my attempting to write a story. What I find fascinating is that I not only wrote the story, but I even used crayon to draw some of the villain/characters in the story. In re-reading parts of "The Mission," I can reflect back and see how this story is a mix between an episode of Batman with the "Pow!" and "Zonks!" effects and highly inspired by my playing Dungeons & Dragons and watching the Doctor Who television show. With that all said, take a moment and laugh with me (rather than at me) as we take a retrospective look back at my first story entitled "The Mission."
What I find most interesting is my use of double exlamation points (I guess one wasn't good enough!) and my handwriting. I never handwrite any longer. Being left-handed, I find it easier to print everything. But this is so early in my development, that I still was following what I had been taught in school. You'll also notice that I had no idea how to structure dialogue with quotation marks and to separate thoughts by using paragraphs. This is about as raw as it gets.


