Teen Scribe...
Hmm.
By Naiesha Thobe 

Editor: The musings of an 18-year-old should be high priority for all of us... also, coming up the Eagles Shade Road Independcnce Day Celebration marks Naiesha’s 1-year anniversary as a CNO Teen Writer. 

Good morning to those who happen to be awake at two a.m. on this soon-to-be-very-hot day. Or rather, good afternoon to those who will read this later. I hope you enjoy the weather, whatever it may be by the time you read this. 

Thoughts. Let me see... what am I thinking about? How about writing? This is my time of day for it. (To those who are saying why do you stay up so late?! My answer is I sleep late and I work better at night. Enough said.) 

I’ve been working with different styles of writing. Most of it is for personal fun, you know, like fanfiction. Some of it’s for personal gain- take my working novel, for instance. But all of it? All of it? All of it is for people’s enjoyment. 

I want people to enjoy it. 

I want people to be amused by it. 

I want people to open their eyes to whatever I’m blathering on about. 

I want to introduce people to something new, I want to reinstate something old, I want people to think ‘Goodness, that’s certainly interesting.’ I want people to tell me that I made their day. 

Sometimes, I get people who say that I post silly stuffm, here and there, online. I get great reviews. Except for the ocassional person who says I’m terrible. If they think I’m terrible, I try to see if they can tell me where I need to improve. Most of the time, however, if they think I’m terrible, they don’t tell me why. If they don’t tell me why, I can’t improve, so... why bother... wasting any time on a review at all? If you don’t like what I write, great! Tell me why you don’t like it! I promise I won’t send lethal glares at you. If you do like what I write, even better! Tell me why you like it and I’ll continue on with it! 

It’s enlightening (and yeah, a bit irritating) when people say they dislike my writing, that I need to improve, etc, but that’s a part of every writer’s job. There is always going to be that one person. I just sit silently and wait to greet him... Regardless of that person, there’s the supporters, too. 

It’s... awe-inspiring, really, when someone takes the time to not only say that they love something of yours, but also to point out specific examples. I’ve had someone say that they wanted a line from one of my writings on a T-Shirt. I was blown away. And it’s all so pointlessly hilarious, isn’t it? It’s just a T-Shirt! But, geesh, you’ve no idea how much that meant to me. Or when people quote my material back to me. And I get embarrassed and flustered and downright grateful and it’s the best feeling in the world. Hands down. 

To the non-authors out there, you probably have absolutely no idea what I’m talking about. Just think this way: take whatever it is that you do, think to a time where someone complimented or thanked you for it, and think about how you made that feel. 

It’s just fantastic. 

Look at me, going on about potentionally boring things again. It’s interesting to me. I just hope it’s interesting to you. The inner musings of an eighteen year old author? Well, could be a better book title, but... 

So, yeah. If you don’t care about the inner musings of an eighteen year old author, just do what I suggested and think about when someone praised you for what you do. And it changes to “The inner musings of an (enter your age) (enter your profession)” and then it’s a bit more personal. 

That said, I’m glad to be back to CNO. Even if all you’re getting is opinion right now... I’ll be back on the news reporting soon enough! (You should all go the Shade Road Fourth of July celebration on July 1st... One year ago from that event was my first time on CNO! Memories!)