Why I Write, Part I: I Suck at Speaking

There has been a lot of drama in the bureaucratic part of my school district lately including finger wagging, playing the blame game, and administration suspending. The teachers and I all wrote down positive things about the suspended administrator and planned to confront the bureaucracy at a meeting. Everyone read what I wrote beforehand and said how phenomenal it was. I think I was expected to speak at the meeting as eloquently as I wrote, but as soon as the tears started flowing in the room, I was useless. All I could do was try to silence my sobbing and sniffles. I guess that was okay because other people spoke instead, though I could feel people looking at me expectantly. This is why I’m a writer and not a speaker. And yet somehow I can speak to children with no problem.

3 Comments

  1. Jean Davis December 14, 2010

    I have much the same problem. I’d much rather write a statement than make it in person. 🙂

  2. Mysti December 15, 2010

    Amen sister. I can’t express myself well in speech. My hubby can testify to this. He’s always correcting my grammar.

    Example of said bad grammar: “I done ate, you eat yet?”

    Sometimes we argue over email. I can’t argue audibly to save my life. That much I attribute to my non-confrontational nature more than the speech impediment, but truly, I find it much easier to write my thoughts than to speak them.

  3. Lindsey December 15, 2010

    HA! I’ll have to try arguing with email. In a heated argument, I stutter and cry. Geez, I cry a lot.

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