analyzing word choice: informational text - q...
analyzing word choice: informational text - quiz - level h describes the impact writing has had on his life. after the army, i held a series of low - paying jobs at a factory, a mailroom, a post office. i ended up working in construction, and was having a particularly trying day when i remembered something a high school teacher had said to me years earlier: \whatever you do, dont stop writing.\ that afternoon, on my way home after work, i bought a composition notebook. i started writing in it and felt more alive right away. i sent my poems, short stories, and some longer pieces out to publishing houses and received rejection after rejection. but i kept at it. i noticed that even though i didnt have a college degree (i hadnt even technically graduated from high school), i was able to get better and better jobs because of my reading and writing skills. eventually, i entered a story in a contest run by the council on interracial books for children. my entry, where does the day go?, became my first published book. what happened when myers first sent his poems and stories to publishing houses? they advised myers to enter a writing contest. they printed myers work without paying him. they were sure that myers should stop writing. they were unwilling to print myers work.