SIX: Maybe I Could Be An Author

            Hah. Jokes. I don't think I could be an author. If I had any plans, I don't think being an author would be part of them. I'm way too impatient and novels take time. Months. Years. I can't work on something for more than a week. But then again, Teresa Toten never thought that she would be an author. Growing up she didn't even have books. Surprisingly, I really enjoyed her presentation. When I first heard that an author was coming to our school to talk to us I thought, "Teresa Toten? I've never heard of her, it'll probably be boring." But what do I know anyway? She presented us with the idea of embracing failure. That was a pretty interesting concept, I thought. I also liked that with every novel of hers that she spoke about, she mentioned that she thought they were failures. I felt like I could sort of relate to that because with almost every big assignment I've done so far, in this class and others, I'm almost never satisfied with them. I always say, "It's so bad," and it annoys all of my friends and it kind of annoys me too, but I never know any other way to express how I feel about that assignment because I've never felt 100% confident with what I've produced, even though I may get a decent mark on it.
            There was a certain charisma about her as she'd wander around the room and the way she'd whisper certain words as she read us parts of her novel. I also thought it was sad that she had only those few photos of her childhood, because these days you have albums and albums filled, stashed away in your basement. Or at least my family does. But I guess it also makes them more special, and also it's a lot easier to manage them. As in, you don't have to ransack your basement just to find a picture of yourself at age 3, eating a popsicle.
            I like to pretend that I'm too good for YA novels but come on, you can't escape them. Although, The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B didn't sound too bad. So, Teresa Toten was pretty cool. She had an interesting story. She was a straight-forward, honest human being. She had endured traumatic events in her past and yet there she was, standing before us, in her bright orange sweater and uggs.