HARPER LEE

Harper Lee, as you probably know, wrote To Kill a Mockingbird.  It was an instant classic.  Something eighth grade classes would read for years and years.  Harper Lee only wrote one novel.  Some say it's because she didn't want to compete with her own greatness.

I am officially starting my debate season tomorrow.  I am freaked out.  Partly because freaking out is something I do really really well.  And partly because I am scared.  I took state last year in my event.  I took state as a novice.  A baby really, someone who only slightly knows what she's doing.  I was the first person at my school, a school that has taken state debate ten years in a row now, to take state in my event.  I am still in shock that I did it.

I say this, not to brag.  Ok, maybe a little.  But really, I say this to show how I don't want to be a Harper Lee.  This is not an insult to Harper Lee at all.  I am not judging her.  I don't know her circumstances, her fears, her situation, etc.  She wrote an amazing book, and she should be proud of that.  But I for one, do not want to be scared.  I do not want to be so scared that I don't compete with my own 'greatness'.  I don't want to be so scared that I give up and not try at all.

So to those of you out there who may feel a little like Harper Lee, I can relate.

And I'm going to take the jump.  The jump of putting myself, and my reputation, out there.  I'm going to try debate again.





*I wrote this when I was feeling a little insecure about my debate performance.  On October 11.  It's ok now.  It's ok to share this because I have learned a lot since then.