About the Author

At the start of 3rd grade, Miss Pitman asked the class what they wanted to be when they grew up. There were about eight police officers, four doctors, a firefighter, a veterinarian, and a couple of lawyers. The year before, I was sure I would follow my idol, Gregory Hines, and be a tap dancer. However, it was reported to me I didn’t possess any rhythm. As a comfort, my 2nd-grade teacher, Mrs. Frost, gifted me a book that changed my life, Tom Sawyer.

So when Miss Pittman asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I proudly declared I wanted to be a writer. Later that month, we received an assignment to write about our day with a dinosaur. When I turned my paper in, I knew I had knocked it out of the park. She returned our papers, saying everyone got the assignment wrong and to try again. In the second draft, I used descriptive tones, researched dinosaur types with my Encyclopedia Britancha, did my spell check, and proudly turned in my paper. 

Miss Pittman walked over to my desk, placed the paperback on my desk, and said, “You will never be a writer.” From that moment, I was confident of my future. Two years later, I won the Martin Luther King, Jr McDonald Award for my essay. In the sixth grade, I won two writing contests, wrote the Black History Play for my church, and was published in the community newspaper, The Dallas Observer.

In each sermon I write, poem, script, or book I publish, I think about the dinosaur who got me my first F.