Stephen King got an important lesson on writing by first making a mistake. He wrote a satiric paper. He got in trouble for bringing it to school and getting it confiscated. He had realized that what he wrote had really hurt someone “Miss Margitan really had been hurt by what I wrote” This teaches that you need to make sure what your writing doesn’t hurt anyone. After getting in trouble he was presented with an opportunity to write for a paper. “He had enquired of John Gould, editor of Lisbon’s weekly newspaper, and had discovered Gould had an opening for a news reporter.” He took the job and learned a good lesson, that someone looking over your writing is a good way to improve.  After Gould corrected it King thought “why, I wondered, didn’t English teachers ever do this?” This lesson is that corrections by someone else’s hand are more constructive.

Sherman Alexie learned how to read by looking at his fathers books, and after enough time he understood paragraphs. “with a sudden clarity, the purpose of a paragraph… I realized a paragraph was a fence that held words…My families house was a paragraph” He is basically stating that a paragraph is a part of a whole. He later states that Indian children try not to be smart in school but were smart outside of class. He then says how he doesn’t correspond with them and continues with reading. “I refused to fail. I was smart. I was arrogant. I was lucky.” He was too proud to give up and continued where others wouldn’t. He didn’t believe that he would one day be a writer. “Despite all the books I read, I am still surprised I became a writer.” No matter how much you think of what you’ll be you could be wrong.