Reflective Essay About My Writing Process

This semester has impacted me and my writing abilities greatly. I feel I have improved in all aspects of writing. Throughout High school writing was never my preferred subject, but after taking this class I have developed an interest in writing and no longer look at it as a chore, but more as a method to express myself.

My writing skills have fluctuated throughout the semester. I feel, although, I have mastered leads and headline writing. Leads and headlines were the first writing skills we practiced and have continued to practice throughout the entire semester. The continuous practice of leads and headline writing throughout the semester, I feel confident in my ability to write concise, eye-catching leads and headlines. For writing assignment three I needed to provide a follow-up headline and corresponding lead for a criminal case. The headline had to focus on the upcoming sentencing hearing because it was the newest information about the case. In order to do so, as I mention in my blog entry, I had to write several drafts for both my headline and lead. [INSERT BLOG PICTURE] After many drafts of the lead I settled on a summary-lead because the article was a follow-up story about an established criminal case. I wrote the headline after I wrote the lead because the headline had to be a shorter, more intriguing version of the lead. After many drafts I finally wrote a six worded, eye-catching headline that was about the sentencing hearing. [INSERT WRITING ASSIGNMENT

As students preparing for a successful career field we will all find a time when we need to effectively communicate on paper. Some of the challenges that I face in my writing is developing my thoughts into organized, presentable sentences. One thing that I am able to do well is having the creativity to generate the thought process without much planning. I do not have much need for brainstorming or outlines in order to get ideas flowing. This has its detriment to my writing, however. Since my ideas flow so easily, I have had a tenancy to miss some of the key points of assignment outlines. To mitigate this, in the future, I will need to ensure I make adequate time available to prepare for assignments.

Typically, after being assigned an essay, my first step used to be sitting in front of the computer and starting to type aimlessly with no specific goal in my mind. This process usually ends up taking hours, and I do not end up accomplishing much at the end. This year, I plan to formulate a new process that will hopefully improve my writing exceptionally. Breaking down the essay writing into pieces will result in quality content. The writing process that I devised incorporates some of the basic elements of writing such as: prewriting, revising, and editing.

Everyone has a process when they write a paper, a book, or a story. Typically, everyone has a similar process, but each person's overall method will vary. For example, some people may choose paper and pencil while others prefer using a keyboard. My process is generally the same, but may slightly deviate according to the type of writing assignment.

Have you ever been confused, or even clueless about what to write about for that paper that’s due? Figuring out what you’re going to write about can sometimes be easier said than done. The writing process can be mentally painful, but the more effort you put in can mean the difference between a bad draft and a well-developed paper. My writing process is very time consuming and sometimes stressful. It’s like having to solve a really long math problem; your head is all over the place at first because you don’t even know where to start. A lot of time that is how I feel right before I begin writing a paper. These papers can often take a lot of time especially when you’re trying to incorporate each stage of the writing process. Self-motivation is

Everyone has a different process they usually run through while writing a paper. In the past, I have always gone straight for the computer when I wish to start on a particular assignment. Whereas some may prefer to put their words on paper first or prepare a detailed outline, I stick to opening up a word document and writing the first thoughts that come to mind. Teachers have practically drilled into my mind over the years that outlining will help my writing, but personally I repeatedly struggle with structure, and prefer to write right away and clean up later. Furthermore, often times I will think of a new idea while writing a paragraph completely unrelated. Instead of abandoning this thought, I tend to bullet point at the bottom of the word document to remember to incorporate it at some point in the paper. Thus, I approach a paper more freely and choose to type what’s on my mind currently, as apposed to copying from an outline or a handwritten essay.

After looking over my recent GRW essay and the comments made on it by professor Prud’homme, I have concluded my work could be significantly improved with further revision prior to submission. I need to be more careful when editing my writing and possibly read it backwards to make sure I'm not overlooking simple errors. Through improving my editing and reviewing process I also think it will help to identify sentences needing further clarification. By acknowledging these weaknesses in my writing process I strongly believe it will lead to improvement in my overall writing abilities on future assignments.

Over this semester I feel that I’ve not only developed into a better writer but also have grasped a better understanding of the writing process, which is arguably most important; having a solid foundation for my writing technique is the key to writing well. Throughout middle school and high school, I have always been told to use the "five paragraph format" when writing essays, but now that I’m in college, I understand that I have been limiting my creativity and not expressing my opinions and ideas to their fullest extent. To be a good writer I must put time and effort into my topic and fully understand the main idea to write a satisfactory essay. So far, I feel as if I’m doing alright. `When I first begin the writing process I always start by typing out the full story. Personally, I can’t sit down and plan what I’m going to write about; formal drafting makes me feel as if I have writers' block. Over the years I have taken bits and pieces of advice about my writing and incorporated those snippets of guidance and suggestions into what my writing style is today. I don’t think I’m bad writer but I could work on developing more of my essays into “A cakes.”

As I have not paid attention to media lately, I am going to focus on my writing process.

Before I started this assignment, I knew little to nothing about the subject. I don’t recall ever having done a project quite like this one, so I’m not sure how it’ll turn out. It likely won’t be very good, but oh well. I did encounter a few problems while working, such as my inability to properly analyze his writing style (or at least not phrase it properly), or to find his challenges or triumphs, legacy/ies, et cetera… I don’t think there’s anything at this moment that I can do about it. If I’m going to be honest here, I’m not proud of it. Now that I’m about out of time, I see everything I could have done better on it. Every last detail. The only two things I’m pleased with are the second page and the questions, and I’m not certain I should even be pleased with the questions.

My process of writing this piece was unique in that I really had to write a piece that was more thoughtful and intimate than most assignments. My method involved writing everything at once, tweaking words, exploring different approaches or ideas, and improving weak parts. It was immensely consuming and took hours of carefully reading and adjusting. The struggles I faced were finding a topic about which I was passionate, and synthesizing everything in the final paragraph. The discussions we had in class altered my understanding of personal essays, elevating it from simply another writing style to an art form. I was particularly influenced by the style of Didion’s In Bed. The entire piece sounded informal yet refined, as if she were speaking to a friend. Conferencing was useful for feedback about my writing style and suggestions for a title, which ultimately helped me write the final paragraph. I believe all of these insights helped me to craft a beautiful essay of which I am really proud. As an LA learner, I have learned to write in a completely different voice, share information about myself in a new way, and put to paper elements of dialogue

In this beginning of this semester, we looked at different authors and their perspective. Looking at the authors perspective I form my own opinions. Now by looking at my writing I have done so far, I have made some improvement. In my first paper I had trouble presenting my thesis statement clear, but then in my next paper move from a not passing paper to a B minus paper. I have stated an argument without using absolute claims like always, never, and all.

America is a place full of immigrants with no single ethnicity or race. America can also be referred to as the ?Melting Pot? because it consists ingredients of multicultural backgrounds. There are cultures such as French American, Asian American, Italian American and African American. I am Mexican American. My culture has helped me to become the writer I am today. My bicultural background and constant moving back and forth from Mexico to America has both influenced and weakened my writing. Although I was born in America, my Mexican culture has always been a part of my life. I have spent the majority of my life in Mexico, and Spanish is my first

I approached this writing assignment like I do for every other essay I have to write; I have to have “The Writing Process.” Last year, I was introduced to this method and it definitely helped me to accomplish every other essay that I get assigned. With this method, I make sure that I brainstorm what my essay could be about, what’s an experience that I would like to share. I also think about what theme I could give out to the readers that are reading my story and what they could learn from it. After that, I start listing out specific concepts about my different stories that I’m choosing from like, if I chose to write about my dad, what would I tell about him and how he’s helped me. Or how my mom’s decision not to work to make sure she’s with her kids whenever we needed her (believe me, we needed her.) Then, I actually skip the free-writing because I don’t feel it’s necessary for me, so I chose what story to write about then start writing.