I have a confession. Last semester, I almost paid someone to write my final essay. I was that desperate. It was 2 AM, I had written three sentences in four hours, and my roommate was snoring while I was spiraling. I found this list on Medium and I actually clicked through to three different sites. I had my credit card out. I was ready. But then I thought about my professor. She's old-school.
She leaves comments like "I'd like to hear YOUR voice here" in bright red pen. She would have known. Not because the writing would be too good — let's be real, I'm not exactly Shakespeare — but because it wouldn't sound like me. It would sound like some 40-year-old freelance writer with a thesaurus and a mortgage.
So I closed the tabs. I wrote the worst essay of my life. I got a D+. But you know what? That D+ is mine. And next semester, I'm going to do better. Or I'll get another D+. But at least I'll know I earned it.
She leaves comments like "I'd like to hear YOUR voice here" in bright red pen. She would have known. Not because the writing would be too good — let's be real, I'm not exactly Shakespeare — but because it wouldn't sound like me. It would sound like some 40-year-old freelance writer with a thesaurus and a mortgage.
So I closed the tabs. I wrote the worst essay of my life. I got a D+. But you know what? That D+ is mine. And next semester, I'm going to do better. Or I'll get another D+. But at least I'll know I earned it.
