“I write because I love. I write for the survival of self, my children, my family, my community and for the Earth. I write to help keep our stories, our truths, our language alive”. (qtd. in Anthology 396.)
So far this year, I felt pretty satisfied with my progress this semester. I feel like I am slowly adapting to the new way papers and assignments are handled. All my college work depends solely on me now. No one is going to baby me anymore and whether I succeed or fail depends on how much effort I put into something. For the first time in my life I wrote a paper. Not just a five paragraph essay but actual pages, which is extremely challenging. It’s also been my first time studying for five hours straight so I can pass an actual test. I didn’t know I possessed this level of dedication, it’s probably because it isn’t free.
I have always had a passion for writing however, I do struggle with it. My weaknesses and strengths are what make my writing style so unique. I struggle with directly writing down my thoughts and feelings. It takes me awhile to develop a good writing flow. Especially if I am not given specific guidelines for the paper. I also have problems with my word choice. Of course, I want my paper to consist of intelligent vocabulary; but I often use words that just do not make sense in the context. Despite my weaknesses I have very many strengths that somewhat balance out my flaws. I have such a creative mind when it comes to writing because I perceive situations in so many different ways. This opens up my choices of exactly how I want to write my paper.
I just begin to write and see what happens. Sometimes it drifts off to being poetry, sometimes short prose. I sort of kind of follow it and see where it 's going. The process is pretty much the same. It 's sitting there with your notebook, waiting for something to happen (“Ted Kooser”).”
How does an artist create a painting? He or she cannot simply look at a canvas and a picture appear. The artist must be equipped with proper tools to create a masterpiece: paint and brushes. The same can be said about writers. Writers are not born with the knowledge of writing an attractive paper. They must be given tools of writing and shown how to utilize them. Artists and writers without proper tools will be nothing more than blank canvases and empty pages. I used to be a blank canvas, but a teacher gave me the tools I needed, and now I am a polished portrait.
When it comes to writing I have the hardest time in just getting started. I’m a horrible procrastinator and I overthink about my writing before I have even started a sentence. I worry that I will fail to get my point across or sometimes that I have a point at all. I worry that my writing is just a stream of consciousness on paper and that it will confuse any reader unfortunate enough to stumble across my meandering words.
As I sit here and ponder over the last semester, I smile remembering what my thoughts were before I started. I was excited thinking about joining this semester, noticing that I had English 111 as one of my courses. This will be a breeze I thought. Writing and I go together hand in hand well, and I bet this will be one of my favorite courses that I’ll ace with flying colors. I’ve always enjoyed writing, but I think that was because I didn’t realize what all goes into writing. I have always been homeschooled and never had to write very many essays, although I loved writing. It all changed when I joined this semester and got to write three entirely different essays. I remember almost being in tears, looking at the highlights, when my first essay came back. I smile now, realizing that I never realized all the small little details that are easily overlooked that goes into writing. I don’t think I could have gotten through this semester without “The Little Sea Gull” handbook and the patience and help of Mrs. Wisdom.
When writing, there were some factors that I was confused or simply didn’t have the knowledge of. Thankfully over the past semester there was a great amount of material I learned about English. There were many things I could improve on, such as grammar, thesis, and organization. However, organization was the main problem for myself throughout the semester. Fortunately, during the semester I was able to improve my organization in my writing.
When I first began writing for The Odyssey, an online magazine, I was filled with ambition, ideas would constantly flash through my head, I was eager, I had finally found out what I loved to do, what I had wanted to do for the rest of my life.
“Write what you like, then imbue it with life and make it unique by blending in
I am not the kind of person who talks or writes much. Putting my thoughts on papers is something I have always struggled with doing. I believe this class will help me improve on transferring my thoughts to paper, in an organized fashion. I look forward to becoming a better writer because of this class.
I was born and spent most of my life before I turned 11 in northern Illinois. In the month after I turned 11, my family moved to North Carolina. My mother is from the mountains of southwestern Virginia and my father speaks English as a second language. I learned to speak and formed most of my vocabulary while living in Illinois but my time in the South has also influenced the way I speak. As I spend time with my grandparents both in Japan and in Virginia, my syntax and cadence change as well as the words I use, creating a unique accent that fits many places yet nowhere. I call a group of people “guys” even when females are present, but I use the term interchangeably with “y’all”. I say yes ma’am and no sir, I use a very slight case of Japan-glish,
Often I sit at the computer, or with a pen and paper, and I think about what I should write. I reflect on my experiences with life, or with my feelings and emotions. If the subject that I write about is coming from my heart, I could write forever, opposed to something that I do not have interest in like the mating habits of fireflies. I don’t care about how, when, and much less why they procreate. I would always dread having to write a paper for my English class, and it was not until I discovered my own love for poetry that I began to enjoy writing. It was my junior English teacher in San Diego, Howard Estes. He allowed me to open my mind to not only the academic perspective of literature, but also to my own personal connection to this confusing written language. This newfound passion gave me a sort of sixth sense. When I look at something, I not only think about what it means to me, but what it means to the world on a larger scale as opposed to taking everything at face value. Through my own writings, and the writings of others, I have been shaped as a unique individual.
While I was in daycare, I would sit next to a couple younger kids and I would “read” books to them. I would sit there and look at pictures and at that time I would just make up the words, having no idea what the story is about. The little kids loved it, but I was always curious about what it was really about. Days were getting shorter and I was getting older… Then school started.
I chose three pieces of writing from the beginning, middle and end of weekly writing. I personally like to write dumb funny story’s. They are funny because they are random, and you never know what to expect next. This writing style shines throughout all of my weekly writing stories. An example is in my first writing piece it starts as a book transcript of a book about trolls, followed by a man who took in a drunk Gandalf. The stories are unplanned.