Negotiating With The Dead By Margaret Atwood

For many writing comes naturally, for myself it is sometimes a struggle. Back in high school I could sum up my view of writing with two words, a battle. I avoided writing like it was the plague, this continued through my first few years of college right after high school. I have since evolved from being apprehensive from my irrational fears that kept me from writing, and now am able to pick up a pad and pencil and enjoy my time writing.

Writing makes me feel free from my mind and put all my thoughts and feelings into it. It feels calm and soothing when you write. I remember when I was little we always had to write our stories in cursive which always helped me to remember things like my vocabulary. I want to improve on my grammars and my words in the future ahead of me, which will take me to the higher roads of writing. I can say what I want to say and express myself without the fear of being judged. Those who'd judge my writing have no right to read it. I write to perforate my emotion and escape the cruel. Writing is my art form, and I will do it whether it is appreciated by others or not. Writing is a therapy for me to keep us writers alive and communicate and share each

When we have strong love for others, we take risks, we go against our beliefs, we put ourselves in danger, and we let our loved ones go. Without love, there would be none of that. In this book, The Dead and the Gone, written by Susan Beth Pfeffer, a comet smashes the moon closer to earth and it creates all sorts of problems. Alex, a teenage boy with two sisters, starts a long journey of survival and risks. This story is so realistic, at times was hard to read. You start to ask yourself these tough questions, like what you would do in a specific situation. Through out the whole story, love is definitely a recurring theme. It shows you how well love can hold a family is distress together.

It is essential to understand that classes taken in grade school do not give students a full understanding of each subject. With the topic of writing, there will always be a new lesson to learn, an aspect to improve, or a differing way to explain. Author Craig Vetter states in Bonehead Writing, “This is your enemy: a perfectly empty sheet of paper. Nothing will ever happen here except what you make happen.” Each story, essay, or response comes from a writer’s experiences. With each attempt at a new piece comes an underlying story of emotions the writer is facing. Each person’s writing is unique and the ideas people have are related to their past experiences and what they believe to be familiar with when deciding which writing style to use. As a high school student, I have learned many things about writing that helped me become the improved writer I am today, but the most essential advice I have received is practice makes perfect. Although there is no actual perfect way of writing, I have discovered that each essay I write, my writing improves. It is easier to spot mistakes, find areas to improve, and ponder elevated word choice to use.

First, I write to show my thoughts and my personality. It helps me show who i am and what i can set my mind to do. I constantly overthink when i’m writing and always think “this is not good enough, erase it,

The writing process is something that you figure out yourself as you go through school. I personally think that is why they make us take English for so many years. Through the years, I found that some teachers forced you to write certain ways. I believe that

Everyone knows what writing is to one extent or another, but we all have different definitions of how it should be done and varying degrees of seriousness about the art. We all have a process of writing, but each is unique to ourselves and our own experiences. Annie Dillard and Stephen King are two well known authors who have published many pieces, two of which describe how they view the writing process and let their readers get a peek of what goes on through their minds when they write. These two pieces are Dillard’s The Writing Life and King’s “What Writing Is.”

The short story the dead is written by James Joyce an Irish writer who lived between 1882-1941,he is best known for his modern writing techniques, with stories such as “The Dead”, this story is well known for its deep analogy of Irish culture, history, and how the story relates to life struggles, the difficulties of time and age and dealing to forget the dead ones we have lost.

Writing has never been a real interest of mine. The only time I had to write any of my thoughts on paper was in school. I believed that one had to have that special trait or gift in them that made them a good writer, just like athletes are gifted in their sport. After reading the articles by Pat Mora and the other one from George Orwell, there can be many reasons as to why anyone would like to write.

Writing is different for everybody. After reading the first part of On Writing Well by William Zinsser my perspective toward writing changed; starting off by the fact that he admitted that “writing is indeed hard” (12). This author, with humorous stories and anecdotes, explained several principles that help one understand how to write efficiently. First of all, be yourself! Zinsser emphasizes the fact that you should be true to yourself and your writing in order to engage a reader in your piece. Other essential principles are: Be precise and avoid clutter. He claims that “the secret to good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components” (7). As I read, I noticed how important engaging a reader becomes to an author but Zinsser reminded me how my writing was made to “please myself first” and then an audience (25). The last but not least rules to follow are: to “avoid clichés” (Zinsser, 35) and “separate usage from confusing jargon” (Zinsser, 45). It is important to maintain your reader active by expressing clear thoughts and avoiding typical sayings that only make a literary piece

Flannery O’Connor, a great American novelist, once said that she writes because “I don’t know what I think until I read what I say.” Writing is not just a torture device that English teachers bestow on students. We write for the ability to express ourselves and to set memories in stone for the future.

Writing is a process that requires brain work. In order to write you would need grammar skills. I feel like a huge part in writing is to be able to plan out and know how to categorize your ideas into different paragraphs. For some people writing is a way to escape for a while. For others writing is a traumatic thing they would never want to do unless they have no other option.

Every day consists of writing, whether it is informal or formal. Writing comes in different forms including, emails, essays, text messages, and even note taking in class. I have gathered materials and assignments in my major to analyze what kind of writing is required and how it should be executed. What I discovered was surprising, but almost every piece of research revealed that writing is not incredibly important in my field of study.

In “The Dead,” James Joyce marks his characters’ lives with an overwhelming paralysis that they can only break away from by reliving their memories. Gabriel seeks solace in his memories, but in reliving them he only succeeds in extending his self-imposed prison of paralysis and enhancing the stagnation he perceives in his life. Gabriel focuses on the emotional sincerity of the events in which he partakes, but, in doing so, he sacrifices the credibility of his recollections. Therefore, although Gabriel may alter the factual accuracy of his memories, he is able to transfigure the past and use it as a form of escape from

There are many different forms and styles used in writing. Writing is a form of communication that is used to document and express ideas people have. Through the years as people grow and learn knew ways of writing, writing awareness of a person will evolve into a much higher level of thinking. From the first term paper a person writes in high school to the papers they hand in at the college level, the writing will have matured over the years. The authors of writing develop new and more sophisticated ways in expressing themselves through the words they use in writing. Throughout history writers have found ways in which they can achieve the goals of gaining the readers attention and keep them interested. A good form of