Harrison J. McCullough

I was just a nerdy nine year old kid in fifth grade. My days were spent playing kickball, telling “Yo Momma” jokes, and reading National Geographic (Kids Edition). I liked reading about the extreme conditions of some of the Earth's incredible landscapes and the amazing cultures of the world.
One day, my teacher wanted to introduce our class to poetry by assigning us to write an acrostic poem spelling out the word "America". It was a very simple task and most kids just wrote whatever they could think of that started with each letter. They didn’t care if it had a theme, a rhyming pattern or if it was even relevant to the word they were spelling out. But for me, the assignment was a transcending experience.
I thought about the landscapes of my country and in my mind’s eye, I pictured all the places I had ever visited before. Then, I imagined all those beautiful places I'd read about and seen pictures of in my National Geographic magazines. I began to write. Suddenly, the images in my head were colliding with formations of words that flowed out of me, like someone popping the cork off a freshly shaken bottle of champagne. I felt like I was using my NO.2 pencil to paint a picture and the more I carved words into the paper, the more vibrant and colorful the picture became. When I was done, I just sat there. I had never felt so clear, so refreshed, so new. I was so self-satisfied, that I would have failed the assignment if my teacher hadn't reminded me to turn it in as I was leaving class. At nine, most of these feelings were completely unexplainable. But I knew, even then, that writing was an art-form I needed in my life.
Since that day, creative writing has continued to provide joy and passion to my life. For almost 2 decades, I kept my work to myself. But a few years ago I Began to work on making a career out of my passion. After some initial roadblocks, I am now 100% committed to focusing on my craft and making a career in creative writing.