Personal Narrative: My Writing Process

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.

During this spring semester, I have grown in many ways as a writer, and a student. I have started to realize, and accept the flaws that I have created in my writing. In the past, I never looked into my writings and saw my problems, and if I did, I did not accept that they were problems. In my writing pieces in the past, I was very hard-headed about what I thought was correct versus what was actually correct. I have also become More familiar with different formatting options on Microsoft Word to create a more professional piece or writing. However, figuring out all the parts of writing and making them work together is the most difficult part of writing.

I always start my writing process by reading the directions. I read the directions three or four times to fully analyze what is required and what is being asked. For instance, in most assignments are not simply questions. There are usually more than one factor in the question. After understanding the directions, I start following the five steps of the writing process. First, I pre-write/ draft a outline to get my ideas into answering all the parts of the question and to establish. Next, I start writing to establish flow of my paper. Then, I submit it to paperrater.com to check for grammar, punctuation, and spell check. Then, I edit my paper from the suggestions paperrater.com suggested. Lastly, I submit my work for a grade.

Throughout the seven weeks that I have taken this writing composition course, I have developed skills to help me improve my own writing. Using the writing process is one of the main focuses in the course. The writing process helps writers develop and revise their essay as they work their way up to creating the final draft that can be presented. Although there are many areas in my own writing where I can get better, I have found that my writing has improved in many ways while practicing using the writing process.

The best writing I’ve ever produced is from last semester I wrote a paper for Sociology on how the movie “Selma” related to what we were learning in class. This is the best writing I’ve produced because I thought long and hard about what I was going to write and ended up making a 100 on the paper which I was very excited about. Another reason is that I’m not particularly exceptional at writing I struggle with what words to use and how to really make my writing mean something to the person reading it, and my teacher left me a comment saying how I had thought outside the box and done very well. When I’m writing, my only fear is that I could be using better words so that’s why after I write a paper I always like to continuously edit it until I’m satisfied. Challenges for me are thinking of what to write I guess you could say that I get writers block and I must take breaks and really think about what I want my paper to convey, but once I get an idea usually I’m and can come up with more ideas it’s just really that first few sentences in a paragraph that get me.

My writing process starts when I am given an assignment. I’m not one to just write for fun, so this is usually the only way I can make myself write. Don’t let that fool you though, because once I start writing something and my ideas start flowing, it’s hard for me to stop. Personally, I love to be able to choose what I’m writing about. I don’t like getting assigned a topic, because that means everybody else has to write about the same topic and that ends up with everybody asking what I wrote in my paper and comparing it to theirs. I HATE when my writing gets compared to other peoples’, because we are all unique and different writers and we shouldn’t be so concerned about who stated certain facts better or got a higher grade.

Would you believe me if I told you that masters of any art still practice the skills that got them to where they are now? This might not come as a surprise to most, but success and perfection is measured in time. Repetition is key when talking about mastering skills. There are many steps that have helped me through my writing process. Thinking planning, and revision are skills that have made me a better writer. These skills are crucial for becoming a better writer because it decides the volume of my work and makes sure the reader understands my intent.

When I start my writing process, the topic is key. The decision of what I'm going to write about is based on how I feel about the topic. If I have some baseline knowledge about a particular subject and it relates to my life somehow, then it becomes a bit easier for me. For example, if I had to write about Army life, I can easily relate to this subject and can lean on my experience to help guide me in the right direction. Another tool is research, using proper citations in my work to support the opinions or ideas.

My experience in writing is rather slim, and primarily for the sole purpose of communicating with fellow colleagues and clients for business needs. Conversely, I have been commended for my writing skills. Prior to college, I never analyzed my writing process, I just did what came natural. Nevertheless, I believe my process begins by jotting down my thoughts, with no rhyme or reason; I lay them out, then begin fitting them together like puzzle pieces of a complete message. I rewrite my paragraphs accordingly, so my message flows flawlessly. Writing, as in responding to emails, comes rather easily to me; with content of familiarity. I purposefully clean up my writings for grammar, spelling, the removal of filler words, and to place transitional

When it comes to writing I have a mental breakdown, I get nervous, overthink, and emotionally stressed. These three words describe me as a writer. In high school I would have a difficult time starting papers, often times my weaknesses was grammar and sentences fragments. How I feel about writing is how I feel when a love one dies. It's like as if I'm at a funeral and my paper is the one being funeralized. I think the reason why I am how I am about writing is because my college English teacher in high school was so harsh on my papers, and ever since then I've been traumatize to write papers.

I think that my writing style leans well more on the creative and entertaining side than the informative side of the spectrum. This is reflected on some of the titles I have come up with for all of my papers and use of wordplay in a lot of passages. That being said, it was quite a struggle to stop using clever language and focus solely on the content of the paper. Even if that did improve over the course of the semester, I still feel like that style of writing didn’t leave me, nor will it. I can always prevent myself from using metaphors and the likes in research papers, but I will still have those metaphors and analogies in me to use for creative purposes, where I normally steer my writing towards.

Throughout my school education, my writing process have improved but, not to the point where I’m proud of my writing skills. Although I always have difficulties when it comes to writing, I also like what I write specially when the topic relates to your personal life. One main thing that I do like about my writing is that I’m straightforward and clear to what I’m trying to explain. Many of my english teachers especially during high school, they have always told me that my writing is understandable but, is really hard for me to organize my ideas. Organizing my ideas into an essay is a challenge for me because I have always struggle with that and I would like to improve it because is a really important step in the writing process. When it comes

Some individuals follow set guidelines when planning to write a paper; some take their cues from others "tried and true" practiced methods. For me personally, I have to work with the available tools I have at that particular moment and tailor them to fit within the parameters of my writing process.

Three sentences. That was all that my kindergarten teacher required me to write. “Class, your homework is to write at least three sentences about something that you enjoy,” she said, as she handed each of us a writing journal. Every night, the writing topic she assigned would change. Later on in the school year, my classmates and I would make up our own topics. We would use our imaginations to write whatever pleased us. I fell deeper and deeper in love with writing. Throughout elementary school, I read many different books. Each book had a different author with a different writing style for me to enjoy. I, too, developed my own writing style. By junior high, I had won a few writing awards, and I had written some short stories that I shared with my friends. Even as a freshman in high school, I still enjoy writing.

My goal for this course was to learn as much as I could and develop my writing skills. My goal was broad and I believe that I have learned a lot in this course and had many opportunities to develop my writing skills. But my learning will not stop with the end of this course. I will continue to learn as much as I can, as often as I can. Written communication if important, not only in academics, but in my life outside of the University. There is always something to learn.