Early in my writing career I developed many skills that helped shape me into the writer I am today. Having been homeschooled, I have never taken a formal language arts course, so none of my papers have ever been edited by other children in my class or by a teacher, which leaves me guessing what important skills I failed to acquire. In the last four years that I have been out of K-12, I have gone through many struggles and trials and left intellectual development at a standstill, to say the least, I am out of practice when it comes to writing. Even during my homeschooling, though, writing wasn't my favorite form of communication—I much preferred giving a speech or presentation to tell my story or make my case. Writing has always been something I've struggled with, where speaking is something that comes naturally to me, my words not staring at me from an editable page, giving me time to take them back or change them. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Having been homeschooled, my mother was my only teacher, for all subjects. I remember countless hours spent writing long, boring documents when I would rather be outside playing or swimming. It wasn't always completely terrible though, it allowed me to write about whatever topic I wanted... The problem was, while I could write about whatever I wanted, it wasn't that I wanted to write in the first place, it just made it bearable. It also helped that I could find topics that I was really interested in and wanted to learn about, so I was learning a lot, but I wasn't getting much better at writing or grammar. Even so, I still have the desire to learn and being more mature than I was during my 12 years, I have the discipline and drive to become a better writer. Who knows? I might even start enjoying writing. I would like to see writing become one of my strengths during my time here at OCU, it's a skill I will need from here on out, for the rest of my life, and I need to be able to communicate in effective and professional way through writing. I know that becoming a better writer won't happen overnight, so I need to be patient and persistent in my practice. Over time, I will shape and mold my skills to eventually become a good writer, maybe even a great writer.