My Little Red Diary Part 4: Today I Got My Report Card

A multitude of emotions and thoughts go into making up excuses to explain your report card before you get home. Your heart literally sinks to the pit of your stomach, as your eyes zoom in on that bright red, fire-breathing failing grade. You felt like you just received a death sentence, because you knew your parents were going to kill you once they saw it. On the flipside, you breathed a sigh of relief when you barely passed a class with a "C" instead of that bright red D, E or F.

As a writer what on earth could you find interesting enough to capture your reader's attention when writing about your report card? Let's examine some of the emotions you probably felt and incorporated them into assorted storyboards:

1. What were my grades?

2. What type of anxiety did I feel before I looked at my report card?

3. What kind of comments did my teachers write on my report card?

4. How will my parents or guardians react?

5. Who is my favorite teacher and why?

6. Did my least favorite teacher give me an unfavorable grade?

7. Will I be grounded or still be able to hang out with my friends?

8. Will I need a tutor?

9. How will these grades affect my decision to get into college?

10. Does a bad grade affect someone's decision to drop out of school?

Whatever the results are on your report card, how does that affect your study habits? Are you willing to seek help before your grade point average drops horribly? Are you dealing with an adult situation that's interfering with your dedication to study? Do your parents need to be more proactive with your school work and teachers?

Teachers were students once upon a time and many of them will understand if you are honestly trying hard to pass your classes, despite daily distractions. Sometimes unexpected and strange occurrences are embedded in your memory bank, while you're in class. Incredibly, social and personal issues can affect a student's ability to concentrate.

So who would probably be interested in a story about high school report cards? Think about creating submissions, based on the above questions that would fit some of these markets:

o Teen Magazines

o Parent Magazines

o Educational Magazines or Newsletters

o Blogs

o Family digests and magazines

o Online ezines

o Health Magazines

o Poetry markets

o Short story markets

In the midst of many safety concerns at schools today, what type of impact would this have on a student's grade or their ability to remain focused? After school, are there too many virtual babysitters teaching our children a pattern of behavior, not conducive to succeeding in school or beyond? How will bad grades, if left unattended, affect our schools, jobs, churches, commerce, economy, daily security and future? Simple exploratory questions will spark your mind into composing unlimited storylines. Can you believe how that simple entry in my diary, on the day I received my report card, could create some amazing possibilities? Now, you try it and see what you can write about on this subject.