Personal Narrative: Shitty First Draft

What I have learned throughout the year about writing is that it is important to know how to write because you will need to use it for your everyday life, whether it is at school or at your work. My writing process I think that I have changed a little bit on it but I think I need to practice more so I can get better. What I have changed on my writing was that I need to make my writing sound good and that it makes sense. Why I made those changes because I want it to sound good and make sure that it makes sense to what I am being asked to write. My opinion on writing has not changed. My opinion hasn’t changed because I just don’t like to write and I find it boring.

Throughout my childhood I could never say I had the most exciting life, even now I can still say that about my daily routine. Although my family put effort into nurturing me into a well-rounded member of society since youth, I never felt any change or progress personally; it was more as if I simply adapted to whatever expectations my elders had of me. I know this feeling did not apply to me only, in fact, I was once in a classroom full of fifty-two people who accommodated to whatever came their way.

As I was reading through the feedback I received on the first major paper I have written in over four years, I happened to think of something I read on a pink notebook in Walmart last night. “Good feedback is the key to improvement.” When I saw the small errors I missed, I knew it was time to start making some healthy adjustments to my writing. Although I have a terrible habit of using contractions and comma splices, I would like to expand my vocabulary and make my writing stronger, be able to incorporate more transitional statements, and I would like to become more comfortable with comma usage.

Growing up in the inner city of Los Angeles taught me many things; make sure you’re inside before the street lights come on, never wear all red or blue, and make sure you get a good education so that one day you can leave the inner city behind. I was fortunate enough to have both a mother and a father who stressed the importance of excelling academically because attending an inner city, LA county, public school did not instill a love of academics in myself or my peers. Our teachers had checked out, the curriculum was not inspiring or relatable, and everyday there was yet another fight happening during recess. As time went on I witnessed my classmates and I take completely different paths. The strong support system I had at home proved effective. As I went on to go to college, many of my peers dropped out, the dismal state of our public school system had clearly failed them. During my undergraduate studies, the stories of my old classmates did not leave my mind.

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.

One of my strong points in writing is coming up with ideas and knowing how to get started on a paper. I guess you can say I am a free writer. Whatever in my head ends up on paper and I could write about a lot of things that matters to me or upsets me and feel passion when writing it down, but there also a weakness that I can’t overcome because my inner critic come along with it. Which makes me completely change and overshadow my own writing. I have a problem with revising and not being able to see the flaws in my writing, but that’s not it. I overpower one topic with another one in other words I would mash up two topics that is the exact opposite of each other which contradict my whole paper. The other problem is shorting up a sentence as well

I'm not the best when it comes do to writing well. I guess i feel like my writing doesn't sound “smart” it's not full of big words that the reader has to look up and learn more about.

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.

I was reading through the feedback I received on the first major paper I have written in over four years, I happened to think of something I read on a pink notebook in Walmart last night. “Good feedback is the key to improvement.” When I saw the errors I missed, I knew it was time to start making some healthy adjustments to my writing. Although I have a terrible habit of using contractions and comma splices, I would like to expand my vocabulary and formulate my writing to become stronger, be able to incorporate transitional statements, and I would like to become comfortable with comma usage.

Thinking about our first writing assignment, one of the suggestions focuses on the comparison of writing to running, it became apparent to me that this is something I would enjoy writing about. I am a long time running advocate, competing in marathons, and a neophyte writing student, and I find many similarities in both endeavors.

My writing process in the past has never been concrete. It was even very rare that I had a process or even realized that I had a process going on. All I did was write without revision. For example, one time I had a research paper due the next day. I made the decision to take all of the examples I had, write it out, explain it, then give my take on the example, 30 minutes before it was due. Although it was littered with grammar mistakes, I got a passing grade. However, this anxious direction of writing held me back from creating great writing assignments and projects.Because I was being told constantly that I had "great ideas but terrible form" made writing extremely hard and close to depressing.

Delano then pulled a gun from his ankle holster and places it on the table top. --

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

Sitting up tight in his hardwood chair eating bits of his nasty lunch food. He feels a bone touch his temple. He blasted out of chair throwing fist at his ex girlfriend boyfriend. On the corner of his eye he sees his teacher approaching red faced an all. A few moments later the teacher grabs his arm pulling him back from the fighting. “What's the matter with you.” the teacher said. Walking Eric to the principal's office.