[Buggy Girl]

I was fortunate enough to go to a private school from kindergarten through eighth grade, so I was used to smaller, competitive classes, with a lot of difficult work. We learned proper spelling and grammar when we were young. I had mastered writing in cursive by the time I was nine and learned how to diagram sentences when I was twelve. Everything had to be written in cursive and spelled properly, or you risked having a paper covered in red correction marks hung in the hall with all of the other students' correct work.

It was tough, for sure, but looking back, I'm grateful my parents sent me there. Because imagine my surprise when I got to public high school and my honors English/literature class was having spelling tests and practicing writing in cursive. Or when the people in my advanced placement English/lit class didn't know what a semicolon was for -- And for those who might not know, advanced placement classes were the ones that earned you college credit, when you were sixteen or seventeen.

I do write unconventionally sometimes. I have had people criticize my grammar, especially that in my dialogue. But I am always sure to point out that I understand the grammar rules, but am intentionally breaking them, because that's how people talk.