Welcome to another month of the Merry-Go-Round Blog tour.  Who has influenced you in your life’s work?  Who would you like to be compared to?  That’s the prompt for this month.  I don’t necessarily think they are the same.

My mother read to me as a toddler.  She read to me so much, that I could “read it myself, Mommy” when I was really reciting words I’d memorized and turning the pages in sync.  I guess that’s where it started.  Apparently, when my mom was younger, she struggled in school, but I never knew that.  She believed reading to me when I was younger would help me have an easier time in school.  Academically, I did reasonably well.  Socially, I was pretty inept. Still am.

I had several competent English teachers throughout my school years.  Mrs. Coacher in seventh or eighth grade (I think it was 7th), was the first memorable one.  Our classroom had chalkboards on two walls.  I think it was the first day of school.  Our class was in the classroom and the word “a” was written on one chalkboard, and the word “lot” was written on the other chalkboard.  Her first lesson was to call the distance between the two words to our attention and to emphasize that “a lot” is ALWAYS two words.  They are ALWAYS separated by a space.  I have never, ever forgotten that powerful visual lesson — and I know many other people who had her for class have not forgotten it either.

Then, I had Mr. James M. Rose for my junior and senior year college prep English.  That man taught the fundamentals of formal writing.  He had Rose’s Rules and a reading list with points for each book.  To earn an “A” each grading period, we had to read 25 points worth of books from the list (among other things).  Rose’s Rules clearly stated the penalty for violation, and people who did not heed lost letter grades as if the Cookie Monster was gobbling them. (“You” was worth 10 points a pop — I’ve failed in this essay; it took me ten years and conscious effort before I allowed myself to use the word “you.”) He was fair. He was firm.  He was demanding.  I have never taken College English 101 because of him.   I always tested out of it, and College English 102 was a breeze. (Whatever the appropriate course number was at any one of the myriad of colleges I attended before earning my undergraduate degree.)

Throughout high school, I wrote a lot of poetry (I’m sure most of it was very bad).  I started college as a pre-veterinary medicine major.  By the time I finished (12 years and seven institutions later), I earned a bachelor’s degree in professional writing.  I have always been a technically sound writer.  I’ve frequently doubted my creative and storytelling skills.

Those have been my influences to date.  Who would I like to be compared to?  I have no idea.