Sometimes I have to laugh at myself that actually I enjoy writing now.

When I was a kid, I would've rather been beaten to a pulp than have to sit at the dining room table and forced to write a paper for school. I would resort to tears of frustration getting started each time. It never just flowed.

I mentioned that to my mom after she read one of my blog entries recently and she was surprised. She reminded me that in the second or third grade I won a plaque in a writing contest about "What My Country Means to Me". I didn't remember that, but sure enough, I dug around in a box of treasures I've kept of my school years and there it was. Strange.

It wasn't until I did some reporting for a TV station in Rapid City, SD, that I realized how much fun it was. Maybe it was because I wasn't being forced to write about Shakespere or something I didn't care about. Because I did mainly feature reporting, I was able to go find fun and interesting stories about things that were interesting.

I once did an entire 60-second segment using alliteration while in Greenville, MS. Miss Mississippi lived nearby the town we were in and we were told that she was bringing in her standard poodles into the local dog beauty shop for cuts. Yeah, it was a slow news day. So I had a lot of fun with it, using alliteration around "P". It actually turned out fairly well, even though I had little video and not much story to work with.

Another of my favorite stories, also in Mississippi, was about a group of Italian ladies who got together every few weeks to make pasta. They were hilarious and they made it so easy to put together a funny piece. I don't think I laughed so hard the whole time I lived there. The difficult part of that one was the editing.

So a few years ago, I decided to capture the writing bug again and channel it in with my other favorite passion, reality TV. Oh c'mon! I know everyone out there has at least one show they'll watch, even if they don't tell anyone. I wrote into a website I read regularly and offered up my services. They gave me a crap show to start with, then I moved up from there to the one Survivor column I wanted more than any other, which allows me to analyze the editing and figure out who will be sent home next.

Now I get to practice on you all as well though the blog. Though it feels like a diary, it also feels like a way to see if something is working or not. I enjoy reading other people's blogs to get a feel for their rhythm and styles; hopefully pick up a few tricks along the way.

I can't believe this used to bring me to tears.