Huggin Hill, EC4, City of Westminster, London

Michela and I at Huggin Hill, London

Growing up, I really hated sharing my personal work with others.  As I've come into college, however, and seen that nearly everyone dislikes sharing their personal works with their peers, I've grown to be more confident.  However, it is still a little disheartening when you share your work, your pride and joy, and the person you are sharing it with doesn't appreciate it.  That is why I have two really close people I know I can rely on to genuinely care about my grades and what I am working on.

I find it fairly easy to talk to my friends about my writing, seeing as it's something most of my friends also have to go through (the majority of the people I call "homies" are English, Public Relations, or Journalism majors).  One of my closest "homies" is Michela, and she and I became good friends after going to London last summer.  She, like most of us in this class, is an English major, and she is a phenomenal editor and writer.  We share all of our writing ideas with each other, including our creative writing ideas (most people are most insecure about sharing creative writing or original writing, as opposed to research or analytical essays).  Michela's one of my best go-to-girls for opinions because she will tell me exactly what she thinks without fear of offending me, which is often what writers need.

Huggin' Mom. She doesn't seem to like it!

The second person I know I can rely on is my mother.  She's an English major as well, even though now a days she doesn't like reading and thinks Jane Austen is incredibly boring (the nerve!).  I often send her drafts of my essays and she will review them, and, like Michela, she isn't afraid to tell me exactly what she thinks.  She is the first person I go to when talking about my creative writing, and she is the one that inspired me to become and English Teaching major.  She is the smartest person I know, ("I need to work on my geometry!" "Mom, you picked up a map.  I think you mean geography." "Oh, that's right.  Geology.  Spain, isn't that where Eric went on his mission?  That's just north of Chile, right?") and I know I can always depend on her support and encouragement. ("Krista, I got a D in high school geometry and my brother was my teacher.  D's get degrees.")  Disregarding all of the best parenthetical statements, she really is the smartest person I know and I can rely on her for social proof.

The third and last person whose opinion I value (in terms of writing--I value everyone's opinion, but when it comes to writing, there are only a few people I know I can rely on)  is my friend and FHE brother Will.  He's a PR major and an awesome editor, and he's the first person I go to when I need someone to look over my draft or thesis.  He tells me what I need to hear regarding my writing, whether or not it's what I need to hear.  (you can find his book/reading tumblr here.  He posts a lot of fun book quotes!  I highly recommend you follow him.)

I suppose the commonality in this is that a reliable friend will tell you what you should hear, whether or not it's what you want to hear.