Raining Parade on a Writer’s Beach - Side Bar Reflection
By Jason Joseph

On the beach of your aspirant writing career the sun is starting to come up. You feel the warmth of praise for a well written article start to shine upon the beach. Friends and strangers admire your scribbling in the sand.

Then the storm-cloud of a tutor brings the lightning and rain over the beach of your dream.

Your writings in the sand have never really felt the warmth of the suns rays. But those who have read it by moonlight have only had good things to say. You feel confident in your scribbling in the sand, even a little complacent at times. But it is these rains of critique that seem to merely want to wash away your words in the sand.

But what seemed to be storms of critique are actually showers that seek to refine and improve the words that were once just scribbling in the sand. The rains of critique, or rather advice, do not allow you to be satisfied with the mediocre writings in the sand. Instead, thanks to the showers, the scribbling in the sand take root and grow into palm trees of skills that will produce sweet coconuts of writing which are sweet to read while basking in the warmth of the rays from the sun.