Just Shy of Mediocre

While writing might seem like a simple task, it can be a daunting task for a lot of people. Sometimes it can be hard to express the ideas in your mind in the words of a paper. This results in a disconnect with what a writer may actually think. A great writer is one that can transform his thoughts into words perfectly. This is a craft that takes many years to perfect, which is why writing is troublesome for a lot of us. Many students also have had bad experiences with writing. Maybe they had a teacher that didn’t try to support them and their writing. They might not have ever gotten the help they needed and may feel that they are in a hole where their writing can’t get better. At this point, they just accept that their writing will never get better.

MLA format is something I have always kind of needed help with. Until this semester for some reason I could never really cite my sources that well. Its something I knew how to do, but when it came time to do it my mind went blank. When you went over everything on the bored that helped me so much (also because I took notes), but only because you told us to take them. With MLA format I learned that when quoting, if its more than three lines you have to use block quote. I didn’t know that till I got to this class.

It is hard for me to focus on writing. When you read my writings, it is very obvious within the first paragraph. My work is much better, and more enjoyable to read, when I write in a quiet place with few distractions. My teachers never really questioned my writing until 10th grade. I could wait till the night before a paper was due, crank one out in under an hour, and the teacher would use it for an example paper in class the next day. Ms. Yard, my 10th grade teacher, was the first to call my writing bluff. I learned that writing was much more then writing. In order to have a good writing piece, as explained in “What Writing Is”, you have to be able to write something that is

Writing has been an outlet for many people, but writing has always been a difficult thing for me. I don’t remember my past experiences in highschool with writing, but I do remember my writing in college. I had multiple papers for my history class during my second year in college from having each paper being a different topic correlating to the subject in class. During my second year in college I didn’t take any english courses which made writing papers difficult. There are certain aspects of writing I find difficult which are having topics being assigned because my writing are limited in expression, whereas free choice topics come easier.

In the past, my experiences with writing have been basic. Other than when I took an advanced English class my junior year of high school, I have taken the common English classes for those of my age. My English course during my senior year of high school was heavily weighted on our ability to write, even though the teacher never taught us how. He expected us to know how to write perfectly, and demolished us when we could not live up to his standards. In a way, this helped me become a stronger writer, but it definitely made me more self-conscious about my writing. With that being said, I would have to go on to say that my biggest weakness as a writer is the fact that I am extremely self-conscious about my writing. I do not like others to read

I learned a lot by taking the MLA quiz. I found out that the books were italicized when cited. I knew that if I was writing about a particular book to underline, but this was good advice. I also learned that you do not write all the names of the authors in a citation only the first and then add an "et al." after it. I learned how to limit the database because databases are so scary since it has so much information. I now know how to restrict the search to what I want. I realized that the last name of the author should be stated either in the sentence or the parenthesis. I also understand now that you do not write the word page in the parenthesis is already implied. I knew that an ellipsis was used to omit a sentence or words that are not needed

A stronger writer will always know when they have done their absolute best. A lot of people often ask themselves of other people “Am I a strong writer?” In all honesty, I personally do not think that I am a stronger writer. I think that because I don’t like the to write. If I don’t like something I don’t put my time and effort into it. Though I do enjoy writing in my journal. Now when it comes to writing papers for school I have a hard time and don’t usually enjoy it. Most of the papers students are assigned are based on someone else’s writing and you have to summarize it and give your opinions and thoughts on it or what would you do if you were in that type of situation. I don’t find any pleasure in writing those types of papers.

Is it wrong for me to believe that to be a good writer, one must be blessed with natural talents? Or so I thought when I realized that writing is something anybody can do through practice, hard work, and even reading. Of course those who have a natural talent for writing may have it easier, but you don’t need to be a genius to be a writer. To be honest, there was a point in my life where I thought I wasn’t good enough to be called a “writer”, but I was more like a person who just writes. Even in school, I struggle with finding a motivation or passion to be able to write a well thought out paper beyond what the requirements for school are. The fact that I have more weaknesses than strengths left me with the feeling of uncertainty and doubt on whether I can freely write my thoughts and words down onto a piece of paper. I mean if I can’t even do something as simple as that, then how am I ever going to be able to clearly get my point across to those reading. Through my strenuous years of writing countless papers, I still find myself having problems. One of my downfalls has to be the fact that it takes me a longer amount of time to write an essay compared to my fellow peers who can probably finish one within less than an hour.

It doesn't matter how talented you are as a writer, if you lack the confidence to write and to explore your writing potential you simply won't create as well or as often as you're capable of creating.

I think that in my writing, I'm a person that isn't put together all that well. As a matter of fact, I have to sit back some times and wonder what the hell I was thinking of when I wrote a certain passage. I don't think my writing is very organized, and I don't think my writing is worth reading. In the past, I was able to write very well, but I really hadn't written anything since high school, and I think I lost the touch that I once had. One of the many problems that I have noticed in my writing is that I write way to fast. I don't think I let things fully develop in my mind before I commit them to paper. Sometimes I think my writing sounds like a deranged lunatic, and I often feel this way while writing. It's like I know what I want to say, but I just can't seem to find the right words to express who I feel.

I really like writing and I think it is important that everyone has the chance to learn how to write. But I'm not very good at it and I don't think it is meant for me. I think I'd be a better writer if I had more motivation and patience for it. There has been many times where I have thought about writing but quit on it after a page or two.

Writing has always been something I dread. It’s weird because I love talking and telling stories, but the moment I have to write it all down on paper, I become frantic. It’s almost as if a horse race just begun in my mind, with hundreds of horses, or words, running through my mind, unable to place them in chronological order. Because I struggle to form satisfying sentence structure, it takes me hours, sometimes even days, to write one paper. It’s not that I think I’m a “bad writer,” I just get discouraged easily. Needless to say, I don’t think highly of my writing skills. When I was little I loved to both read and write. I read just about any book I could get my hands on, and my journal was my go to for my daily adventures. Although it’s

Writing has always been one of my stronger subjects through all of my years of being a student. My last semester of highschool I was put into a class called writer's craft. I had to write a paper almost everyday, so I got used to the writing routine. I would have considered myself a decent writer before this course began, but I still had to work on some techniques. Before this course started I had no idea how to do in text citations, I had very little experience of descriptive writing, how to correctly present, and my writing was all over the place. Some papers that I wrote in the past did not really flow.

As a bad writer myself, writing has always been difficult for me. The grading system in schools is a prominent reason why this misconception is in the air. Being defeated with myself was a

I’ve been told that my writing is subpar and it seems rushed. My writing is one of my major professional insecurities. I’ve been told that when I made a specific point in my writing that it was strong and had a great start. But when attempting to consolidate multiple points into an extensive paper, I’ve been informed that I fall short of doing that. Furthermore, my thoughts come off scattered, I tend to be all of the place when I’m writing. If I don’t have a strong template in front of me when I writing, then I easily bounce around from one point to another like a Quinten tarintino film. In the end, I think I fail to execute the original task and fail the attempt of being lucid.