I Am A Week Ago I Almost Gave Up With A Coffee And Baileys...

A week ago I almost gave up again. Saturday was spent on my in-law’s porch with a coffee and Baileys stewing over my frustration in losing my 14th scholarship contest. I sat out there, posed like an author, leaning on the arm of the chair with my chin rested on curled fingers, holding my pen like a cigarette, hoping to channel King or Orwell. I started this project, writing scholarship essays, at the beginning of the year honestly believing if I just wrote enough essays statistically I would eventually win something. Two authors, Kristina Ellis and Marianna Ragins, won $500,000 and $400,000 respectively while they were still in high school. Their books gave me the jumpstart to try writing as a way to pay for school, and the idea grew into considering writing as a viable career. While I often think about giving up this project for a second job I can’t bring myself to do it; the learning benefits now outweigh frustration of losing. I have no allusions to thinking I could win $400,000 in scholarships but it lifts my spirits knowing it can be done. I didn’t find Kristina Ellis’s Confessions of a Scholarship Winner or Marianne Ragin’s Winning Scholarships for College to be exceptionally helpful for writing but as an average student, I found their similar backgrounds encouraging. Neither was a top athlete or elite test taker, just average students who were very dedicated to the scholarship hunt. Admittedly, I got over excited and did not consider how far behind I was