Personal Narrative: A Career In Writing

My writing experience started in high school. I was part of the high school yearbook. I was business editor as a freshman up to being the editor my senior year. I also participated on the newspaper staff. I had some experience in college, but I did not finish college. I then did not have any more experience until I started work as a leader at Nisco. I finally started college classes again.

As the last words escaped my lips, a burst of applause echoed through the room. The bright smiles of my audience, be it family, friends, teachers, or colleagues, never failed to keep me writing. Being able to pique someone's interest enough to show them even just a small piece of the world of imagination inside my head was the very concept that drew me to writing. Creative writing was one of the key factors in developing my literacy skills because I learned to communicate ideas to my audience efficiently and effectively, expand my vocabulary, and broaden my scope of interpretation to discern themes.

Writing is a powerful tool for communication and connection. As an extension and expression of the mind, writing is as much about the mental processes of the author as it is about the final marks laid to paper. As we write, we hold in mind our own thoughts on the work, anticipate the reader’s thoughts, and think both in concrete and abstract ways in order to accomplish the task at hand. Whether an academic research paper, a novel, or text message to friends, writing seeks to engage, persuade, or impress concepts upon an audience. Like language and other art forms in general, the practice of writing is ever-evolving and is subject to cultural and contextual influence, expectations, and conventions. Each writer holds a theory

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.

Writing is a practice that most of us were taught when we were young. We were taught the basics of grammar, how to form a sentence, conjunction words, how to write paragraphs and more. Although we have learned this skill while growing up and have used the skill every year after entering kindergarten, this does not mean our writing process will ensure the best work. The authors that I chose each encourage their audience to excel in the art of writing in their own way to help with the writing process.

From a young age, children in a first world country are expected to have the ability to read and write. But if you think about this, more than 100 million youths in the world are illiterate (UNESCO). Growing up in a place where pencils and papers are scarce, being able to read and write is a blessing, yet most kids in America just see it as something they’re forced to do in school. Although most children write just for educational purposes, I see writing as something much more. Writing truly allows for a greater emotional output than other types of communication and in my rhetorical self, it is an incredible way to express myself and my thoughts to others.

In our society, people communicate through various ways. One of the most essential way is writing. Through writing, people convey their thoughts and ideas, connect to others, and pass on wisdom generations by generations. More importantly, writing effectively promotes the advancement of society. Though some people have not realized the how writing benefits from writing, the author of the article “How to Read Like A Writer”, Mike Bunn illustrates that focusing more on the rhetorical “strategies” and structure rather than the content can improve our own writing.

Throughout the course of freshmen year I have developed different skills and opinions on writing. I feel I have created a more mature style of writing and a better understanding of literature. I have changed my view of writing over this semester and acquired a strong liking for it. The importance of writing has become more visible throughout the past few months. Writing is crucial in many aspects of a person’s life. I have grown to be a more powerful and well built writer throughout this course.

Writing shows the development of skills that are needed in society to strive above. The expression of one’s voice is utmost importance in writing. However, many are unable to think for themselves and this leads me to believe that many are losing their voice. With more people conforming to society, less and less with fight back against the most troublesome of problems. I fear that communication will people lost in people, without writing skills to project themselves. That will lead to loss of original opinions and thoughts because everyone is dull minded to comprehend their own beliefs. Without belief, society as a whole will stay stagnant and personal growth will decrease in the common man, which can lead to underdevelopment in personality. In relations to I Stand Here Writing written by Nancy Sommers, writing skills can be seen to have great importance to the development of expression because it allows the writer to establish dialog.

In today’s society one would not be able to communicate effectively with the world if writing was not involved. People all around the world send emails, texts, and letter to numerous amounts of individuals each second. Talking on the phone is slowly becoming a thing of the past while the writing side of technology is taking over. The meaning of writing is changing in society. Writing used to be specifically for academics or the occasional letter to a loved one. As time has passed writing has taken more forms and more meanings. In the world we live in now writing is classified as texting, emailing, instant messaging, and even comments or tweets on social media. Although writing has these multiple new forms, it still holds its academic side strongly. Everything with meaning in turn affects a person’s day to day life. Writing has the effect of making one more intellectual. Writing has become a bridge between communication and the cultures and people of today’s society. It gives way for different options in stating sentences or phrases. (Olson). Each affect should change with age. As a person grows older, their writing styles should mature and take on a more professional aspect.

No matter what job someone does they will use writing. It might not always be fancy academic writing, but writing nonetheless. And because all writing has voice it's important to develop it and practice it. A writer needs to know when to use the appropriate voice for the appropriate occasion. A writer’s voice will always continue changing and getting stronger.

It may come as a surprise to many, but writing is no longer about the writer and is solely about the reader. When writing anything, whether it be a press release, a newspaper article, or even an informative essay, the only person that should be considered is the one that is going to read and draw conclusions from the writing. The ultimate point of one’s writing is to benefit one’s reader through understanding them, writing clearly and concisely, refusing to use methods that mislead them, and refusing to present information that has no basis of truth.

Through all of my accomplishments and disappointments, I have always been especially proud of the dedication and passion I have for my personal beliefs and values. If there is no struggle, there is no progress, with drive and a bit of hard work you can move mountains. Based on hard work and success, it goes hand in hand because life is designed to be tough. When I was 14 years old, I realized how important writing is in our everyday life. I realized that writing was something important in my life and it has changed my personal life. In my freshman year in High School during “Career Day,” one of the presenter who was a writer, helped me understand how important writing is.

I switched back and forth between tabs as I waited for something new to appear, so it could entertain my mind. Why was no one online at three in the morning? And why did I still have an incomplete book in front of myself?

In the beginning, of the semester I never truly saw myself as a writer in the traditional sense. Yes, I could write, and in some cases I believed I could do it quite well, however I always reserved the title of writer for those whom published or at least attempted to. However, as the course progressed I found my definition of a writer expanding alongside it. While I won’t say that I’ve changed my classification of myself as a writer, I will say that the term is not just reserved for those whom seek to publish or have already published works of literature. Writing is much more than that it is a form of expression that has no bounds, and allows one to communicate in ways simple speech has, yet to provide. It conveys