WINONA LAKE, IND. – Grace College English education major Reagan Motsinger of Westfield, Indiana, recently had 21 of her original poems published by BookLeaf Publishing due to one of their writing challenges. Motsinger’s book of poems entitled “Spaghetti Brain” is a wide-ranging collection of the author’s emotions, interests, and reflections on how writing has helped her navigate the complexities of life.
“Many of these poems were written during a challenging semester for me emotionally,” said Motsinger. “I was dealing with friendship issues and frustrations at school, so they center on the emotional grappling with these issues. There’s a good range of stuff in the collection that warrants the title, ‘Spaghetti Brain’ because there are so many things in my brain at once.”
Motsinger’s been passionate about writing since she can remember. Still, she is incredibly thankful for her freshman English teacher at Westfield High School, Mrs. Caulfield, who ushered her into the world of poetry.
“She is the reason I started writing poetry more consistently in the first place,” said Motsinger. “She would share poetry contests with the class, and I would enter them. That is what started me writing poetry more consistently outside of school.”
Although Motsinger had a longstanding interest in writing, it wasn’t until her senior year at a CIY Conference that God nudged her to pursue a career in education. She enrolled at Indiana State University her first year, but after a year and a half there, she transferred to Grace College, which she had heard about from a friend at church.
Just finishing her first semester at Grace as an English education major and creative writing minor, Motsinger is excited about the opportunities her future will bring.
“I love reading and writing, so my hope with the creative writing minor is that it will not only build my skills as a secondary career, but it will also help me be able to teach those sorts of skills to my students as well,” said Motsinger, who is currently working on the next project she hopes to publish – a fantasy/romance novel.
She is determined to become a more consistent writer and has hopes to get involved in “Inkspot,” Grace College’s literary magazine, in the years to come. Motsinger knows that her commitment to writing will positively impact her future classroom experience. “I hope that when I am teaching, some of the passion and excitement I have about writing ignites my students’ excitement.”
To learn more about the English education major and other humanities degrees at Grace, visit www.grace.edu/academics/
