Teresa Toten. Despite being a published author who has won the Governor General's award, this name was unfamiliar to me; I had never heard of her in my life. When we were told that we would get a chance to meet this author, I couldn't find it in me to be that excited. I mean, if I've never heard of her, she couldn't be all that great could she? You always hear about great authors. I didn't know what to expect. But I was surely not expecting to be excited and determined after her presentation. Teresa Toten was phenomenal.
Her message was something that I believe I will hold with me forever. Failure is good. I think this is an important message because there comes a moment in life when everyone will fail at something. This doesn't mean that we should give up and sob about how tragic our life is. Failing is a lesson. A lesson that teaches you when life is hard and you don't think you can make it, try again and again and again, because one day you will make it. And at that moment, the sweetness of success is going to taste a whole lot better than it ever could.
I thought Teresa's life was very inspiring as she went through a lot. She lost her father at a very young age, had to deal with a half-brother bent on killing her and grew up moving from one place to another in a matter of months. Nothing was permanent for her. This emphasizes her success so much more because it is very hard to grow up in such a difficult environment and come out without a single complaint. Another thing I really like about her presentation was that she was very blunt about her flaws. This made me think that even though I was in the presence of a big-shot author, she was like me; she also had her imperfections.
Another thing I was able to relate to was the fact that she said "all of my books are failures." This is something I have to constantly deal with. If I'm writing an essay, a story, or even this Blog post, it NEVER turns out the way I want it to. In my head I come up with these elaborate plans and beautiful concepts, but as soon as I put it on a page it turns out completely different then what I had thought. That's when it becomes a failure. Even if I get a level 4, I think to myself, what would the plan in my head have gotten?
Teresa Toten captivated me from the very first sentence. The way her hand would move almost on its own accord to emphasize her point. The way she walked around the room, her piercing eyes holding you in your spot. The presentation was amazing. She seemed to really enjoy what she was doing even though she never wanted to be an author anyway. This experience was a once in a lifetime opportunity that I'm glad I had the chance to be a part of. I'm definitely going to read The Unlikely Hero of Room 13B.
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