A Preliminary Theory of Writing. People anywhere in the world go through various experiences in their lives. Every experience affects a person in some way or the other. The effect can be good, bad, or even interestingly a combination of both. This is because the mind is a very interesting part of our bodies, as we tend to do and even become what it thinks for us. Growing up in a different environment back home in East Africa, in a small town named Bugembe, has made me appreciate the skill of writing through handwriting most of my work. This takes me years back to when I was six years old, as far as I can remember in my nursery class. I had to go through many struggles with the help of my teachers to ensure that I learned how to hold a pen and write. One of the first most memorable challenges I faced at school was to write my name. This up to date comes to mind as my first experience and genesis into the world of writing. While struggling with lines of sticklike marks in my funny looking blue book just to come up with the letter “E�, I knew good writing was first about having my letters aligned on one horizontal line. I was inspired through the process by our joyous teacher who always drew horizontal lines on the chalkboard to illustrate what she wanted us to do exactly. Her theory of writing basics enabled us to have neat handwriting, something that I give her credit for in all the assignments we did in the classes that followed. Given the structure of the education system in Uganda, students always depend on handwritten notes. My first teacher’s instruction kept this practice alive in me since then, knowing I needed to be 4
In my fourth year of high school, I was introduced to summary writing and essay writing. There I found a more developed view of who a good and bad writer is. While in that class, my English teacher introduced me to the idea of using careful grammar while writing. At this level of senior four, a good writer was one who used good grammar and punctuation in writing. Mr. Mukyawe Paul, the oldest serving English teacher in school, always encouraged good writing by highlighting the best examples. I became interested in poetry while at this level, which made me believe good writers were just born with abilities that average writers didn't have. I always gave up whenever I gave it a try while in the school library since I was already considering it as a talent, an inborn ability one can have. My appreciation of poetry made me accept and embrace the fear of writing at first. My fear stayed with me for almost one year until my final year of high school when I met a great gentleman named Mr. Paul Kilimi Wanda, a social critic, poet, editor, and teacher in my school. He was my General Paper teacher in my last year of high school. He taught a general class aimed at enabling us to attain maturity of thought appropriate to our level of mental development. It further developed our understanding and use of English so we were able to express arguments, ideas, and opinions reflectively and academically. In this class, we were also introduced to a more advanced format of writing mainly to help us pass the national exams that were coming up soon.
