“Well, I actually just had a breakthrough,” April explained. “I’m going to tell about my experiences in writing in the past, and in a circuitous style, I’ll loop it back around to how it has affected me in the present and how it will continue to affect me in the future since I’m planning on majoring in journalism.” Mary was nodding her head along as April was explaining, but then declared, “That just might work! But I think you’ve done enough thinking for now. Let’s go.” The girls stood up and walked away, with only minimal protest from April who was worried about completing her application. After school the next day, she arrived home and was eager to work on her essay. April figured that if a quote from Outliers triggered a memory last time,
All throughout my years of schooling, I’ve had just about, one paper that was about one page long, due every year. My papers never had to be more than one page in length. Therefore, I did not have to do much writing or do many essays. Surely not enough to remember any of the assignments. Writing has never been something I enjoyed doing, so I never bothered to many any memories of my writing experiences. I did not think it was necessary to remember any of them since I only had to do them to get a grade. The only writing experience I remember was the first assignment I had in this English 100 class about a writing experience. All week long, I sat there thinking about what to write about, but nothing came to mind as a topic. Then, one thing came to mind, but it was so very vague, I could not write the length that was needed for the assignment. I could only think of a few sentences to write for it. After sitting for a few moments longer, I thought, how about I write about how difficult it was for me to write this essay before it was due.
My ideas on writing have not changed now that I have completed the second essay. I still believe that writing is for the writer and the audience. Writing is for evoking emotion and ideas. I see writing as completely worthless if it will not impact the writer or reader in a beneficial way. This second essay I have struggled with because it goes against a lot of what I believe writing is supposed to do.
As a writer, I find myself getting lost. Typically, when I go to start writing I hit a brick wall. It’s as if all my thoughts suddenly escape my mind and I draw a blank. It takes me forever to conjure up some form of a thesis and then takes even longer to figure out what I should write to support it in a way that makes sense. Then, attempting to find a way to organize my ideas and put them together in cohesive paragraphs seems like an impossible task in the moment. It is not uncommon for me to get flustered and just throw something down on the paper because I get anxious seeing how much work is left to do. If I end up going back to read it over prior to submission,
When I start to write a draft, I usually freewrite. I use that technique, because it was easier to me than brainstorming or following an outline. In order for me to write, I generate ideas on a scrap paper. And draw ideas from that list, the more sub ideas that come from one idea, it’s most likely that I will write about that idea. When I try to write with an outline, I tend to get lower grades, because I do exactly as my teacher tells us to write the paper, but I don’t add any tricks to make my writing style better.
In my childhood I was not taught the fundamentals of proper writing. Nor was it influenced in my household to dedicate time for writing. My father owned his own business, therefore, I always saw him writing inventory and receipts. As for my mother, I can recall her writing down messages from phone calls. At school I found little to no growth in my writing. When I did face a task that required legible writing I would seek help from my friend Sandra. This class is by far the first English course I have taken were I could truly say lectures are broken down enough for me to develop satisfactory growth. I am still a developing writer, but I have made a lot of progress because of influences of my own desire to learn, Professor Anna C. Morrison, and
Throughout my high school career, I have had to write countless essays. My writing style has improved remarkably each year, as I am very skilled at conveying my ideas on paper using details and emotion, and I have a system of how I construct my writing. However, careless grammatical errors the extensive amount of time I spend writing hinder my improvement with my writing style. Writing in general comes easily to me, but only after I have actually figured out what I am going to write about; which is the tricky part.
It was second semester of my senior year of high school. To get an academic honors diploma, I was required to take an advanced composition class. I had heard that it was a difficult class, but that the teacher made it worth taking. Mrs. Mishler, or just “Mish”, was the kind of teacher that students could relate to. Mrs. Mishler made a huge impact on me as a writer.
Books are amazing because they can exercise your imagination and you are learning at the same time the book I have chosen today is special to me because it has inspired my love for rugby and it has made me laugh and has entertained me for hours on end
How does writing affect me? Writing presents three different experiences; illustration, inspiration, and indulgence. Growing exceedingly rapidly, my love for illustrations has been the center of my love for writing. This love thrives on the fascinating indulgence of completing an impeccable paper. As I entered into high school I discovered a love for writing that would be tested by the lack of inspiration.
Recently in my English course, our professor gave us an assignment in which we had to write an essay as if we were Native Americans meeting the Spaniards for the first time. When we wrote our first draft of our essays, we inter-changed amongst ourselves in order to peer-edit our rough drafts. As I received my essay, in which I thought I had done a great job writing, back I noticed a lot of the errors I had committed. Luckily, my classmates corrected them for me and made various suggestions to improve my essay.
For my first semester on an actual college campus as a sixteen year old high school student, I embarked upon many new things. Making my own schedule, having more accountability for my grades and simply taking the first few steps into adulthood. As I spend more time on campus everything that seems hard and confusing will only become more adaptable with time. Everything gets better with time. I know this because throughout my experience in English Composition 1101 I have seen a proliferation in my writing process and skills.
Writing never really was my strong suit. I enjoyed doing math and science but when it came to writing, I wasn’t a fan of it. I would finish papers just to turn them in and get a grade. Once I got the grade back, I would just stash the paper away and not look at it anymore because I didn’t feel confident in them. There was only a few that made me feel amazing when I finished them.
“Text” is an interesting lens to look at writing through. There are literally brand-new spaces for writing being created by new technology and innovations still to be made in existing spaces.
Writing is something that is almost intoxicating to me. When I write, I suddenly have the ability to forget my current problems, and I can focus on the stories my brain is itching to let free. At times I will use writing as a coping mechanism for when I need to divert my attention away from my own mental anguish. From a young age reality is something that I have tried my best to avoid due to the fact I have had to live with a Generalized Anxiety Disorder. As a child the real world seemed entirely too frightening for me, so I would turn all of my attention towards fantasy. Eventually, my mind became chock-full of an interminable amount of fantasies: the mystical world of Harry Potter, the blood-curdling adventures of Percy Jackson, and the incredibly daring Mulan. My whole motivation for writing is to escape reality. Although I enjoy writing, I do not always write voluntarily. I write when I feel like it is a necessity for me to write in order to escape my volatile emotions. Sometimes, I feel as though I literally need to stay drunk on my own writing to be able to function as a person. Above all, I write so reality cannot destroy me.
Having the ability to write about something you enjoy could possibly be one of the best things; not only for yourself but for everyone else. The human mind is a crazy thing, and someone can bring a thought or fact to you that you have never thought of. Being able to choose you own topic creates less stress, and more enjoyment for the scholar. I believe that teachers need to allow students to write about a topic of their choice instead of just giving every student one topic to make their grading life easier.