Focus Statement

Dear Friends,
Some people have a knack for complicating their lives, I am one of them.
There was a time when I looked forward to writing my blog. An idea came to mind, I shared it with friends. Many read it, a few liked it, and one or two gave positive feedback. It was simple and enjoyable. But, obviously, it wasn’t enough, because I had to go and mess it all up by taking a writing course. Not only I haven’t learnt to write better, but I’ve lost the little flare that I had for writing.
For the past few weeks I’ve been struggling with retelling an incident that happened to me in Nashville. A drunken young woman, who needed to throw up, yelled at me on the street, “Hey old lady, you are in my way!” I thought my harsh response, “At least I can hold my liquor!” was worth exploring. After all, she had stated the obvious (in vino veritas). I am sixty, I have grey hair and a sagging jawline.

Finally my instructor and I agreed on a focus statement, “I hate being called old because I’m not old!” He warned me to remain centred and not confuse myself, or the reader.
Well, every sentence of every paragraph is to answer why I don’t like being called old, why I walk around looking old if I don’t like being called old, why I can’t accept being old. The more I try to answer these questions clearly, the more confused I become. At some point, I had four different versions running on my hard drive. Obviously getting old, looking old and not liking to be called old are complex matters, better left to the experts. 
This assignment has cost me time, sleep and most importantly, self-confidence. I can’t write anymore. I was going to enter a poetry contest, but then decided against it. I was going to share with you my recent adventures in Cobourg, but I can’t locate the focus statement, and without it I will be lost. 
Now I’m thinking, perhaps I should look into becoming an editor. I sure recognize bad writing when I see one!!!!!!!