I read a lot of 'Spark Notes' in high school.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
When I decided to take writing seriously, I did a lot of reading and analyzing of the books I liked, and came up with what I thought were pretty sound plotting and structure basics.
In the end, what's any good reader really hoping for? That spark. That spell. That journey.
I remember when I was a kid in school and teachers would explain things to me about what I read, and I'd think, Where did they get that? I didn't read that in there. Later you look at it and think, That's kind of an interesting idea.
In high school, my English teacher Celeste McMenamin introduced me to the great novels and Shakespeare and taught me how to write. Essays, poetry, critical analysis. Writing is a skill that was painful then but a love of mine now.
In high school I was very much involved in poetry. You cannot read a poem quickly. There's too much going on there. There are rhythms and alliterations. You have to read poetry slow, slow, slow to absorb it all.
Reading taught me how to write.
I wasn't a very good student in elementary school and had a hard time with reading and writing.
I had never attended high school, but I was fairly well read.
Even though I was a reluctant reader in junior high and high school, I found myself writing poems in the back of class.
To learn to read is to light a fire; every syllable that is spelled out is a spark.