Writing Is Not My Cup Of Tea

If we are to establish that good writing is made up of basic control of the language that is being written, adherence to conventions of grammar and style, and the ability to present a cogent argument and reasonable support for that argument, I may qualify as a good writer. However, it must be recognized that there is a great deal of distance from simply being good at a subject or task and having developed mastery of the same. Thus, I would argue that while I am a good writer I have yet to cross the threshold of skill that qualifies me as a great writer. Greatness in writing exhibits a level of awareness and development of thought that is rare and hard to achieve. As a product of this class, I would like to find myself closer to that finely

I have truly enjoyed writing for most of my life and after this class I will continue to enjoy writing hopefully with more skill. I have always viewed myself as a fairly strong writer and this class has reaffirmed that for me, but it has also shown weaknesses in my writing. As an introduction level class this has been one of my favorites; at some point I will take a higher level, even though it is not required for my major. Even though this class is almost over I am continuing to learn. I also love that this class will help me with literally ever other class in my college career. I am not a particularly strong reader, but as my writing skills improve so do the reading skills. While in this class I have learned a lot about everything from what I can improve, to subjects that interest me, and constructing a successful paper.

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

Throughout this course, I was able to assess and evaluate my weaknesses and strengths in writing. This class has truly brought out my ability to write, a skill I did not believe I had. I now know what it takes to become a college-level writer. Also, at the beginning of the course I did not particularly enjoy writing. Now, however, I have a greater respect for

Whether while writing an essay or a birthday card, we have all struggled to find the proper words to illustrate our thoughts or feelings from time to time. Upholding the occupation of a writer would multiply that struggle tenfold. An occupation that depends on interesting, fluid pieces of writing every submission requires an adequate number of attempts and patience. Lamott expresses that writers “all often feel like we are pulling teeth” (Lamott), which proves the difficulty of writing is still there no matter the level of writer behind the work. Lamott also emphasizes that a writer “has to start somewhere” and shares her friend’s ideas in her writing to simply “get something - anything - down on paper” (Lamott). Lamott, and the other writers mentioned in this piece, carry incredible track records, while still admitting that perfection did not come initially, or even easily. Thus, proving that the Shitty First Draft has a place in any writer’s notebook or Word document. Lamott’s admission to struggling to properly begin a piece of writing surprised me, given of her success. I could not imagine a woman of her accomplishments stressing out over a food review, yet I felt relieved that someone of Lamott’s title relates to an amateur writer like myself. I often put off my writing as well when I cannot articulate a proper introduction. I do every other possible homework, or shy away from homework in general because the

It wasn’t until this class, where I was told that I was not being asked to explain in great detail what has shaped me into this amazing writer that I am today, but instead to explain what type of writing I feel comfortable with. At that point I realized that this assignment may not be quite as difficult as I thought.

This course was comprised of many learning activities; each was designed to help me achieve the course learning outcomes. I have taken two college English classes in the past; however, it has been several years since my last college class. I have some experience in writing and this class definitely helped me get back into writing. I often have trouble brainstorming and capturing the subject I need to write about. This class definitely helped me overcome the challenges I faced in writing and being able to effectively express my ideas in a clear and concise manner. Not to mention, it definitely helped build my writing foundation through a step by step approach to each assignment. Therefore, this class bolstered my writing and communication skills.

I learned a lot in this class during the semester. The first project was our learning narrative, it was not what I was expecting from a writing class. I expected we would be writing a many formal essays in MLA format with lots of sources and research. The first essay being a creative writing project was unexpected. At first writing a narrative from my personal experience was difficult for me. I had not written anything besides formal essays since high school. Writing something that was creative and expressive was an adjustment. After a few days of writing I began to really enjoy my learning narrative. I liked being able to express myself and my own experiences and share them with others.

It was my first writing class as a college freshmen and I did not know what to expect, like whether or not the class would be harder compared to what I took in high school or even if I would enjoy taking class. But as soon as day one turned in into week one, than soon week fifteen I felt more comfortable in the class than what I have probably felt in the beginning. I felt like I could write anything my professor threw at me, because through writing I could express my individuality. It gives me the freedom to express myself through words, and write about things I felt passionate about writing about. I felt as though I writing because I wanted to, and less because I was assigned to do so.

One of my weaknesses in my writing is that I tend to have a “one track mind”. Once I have an idea about how to word something or organize an essay, I tend to only see it from that perspective, even if it’s not the most optimal way to convey my arguments. This class helped me think outside of the box and learn to organize things like I would not normally do, this included how I would analyze texts or synthesize ideas. The in-class activities helped me learn to be creative, the class readings gave me examples on how to organize that creativity and the instructor conferences helped me further organize my thoughts and organization.

Answer: My favorite class was Ms. Pike's creative writing which was a perfect balance of my academic strengths and showing me what writing in the real world was like. We would travel to different coffee shops, parks, etc. to write about what we saw, felt, and heard. Writing is my strongest academic strength and creativity is something I am passionate about so it was definitely a class that combined my two interests. This is a class I would highly recommend since it showed me what power writing can have along with being more creative with

When writing any document, the author must understand their audience before writing anything (Vandermey, 2012). Making sure my content has the attention of the reader is essential for any writer and understanding the process to write interesting material is the author’s goal (Emery, 2014). While all authors have fear and apprehensions about writing, their passion usually comes out on top when authoring a document or paper. My writing style creates fears, however, my passion to communicate properly with my audience drives my overall writing style.

Okay, the time had come. I must sign up for a University Writing Program (UWP) class at the University of California, Davis, a requirement I greatly feared. I pushed back signing up for the class until my last a final quarter as a student because I thought to myself, “I am a horrible writer!” Being able to put my thoughts into words onto paper purposed a struggle. Therefore, I organized my classes where I would be able to dedicate a lot of time to my UWP class because I knew I would need it.

College is almost all writing there is always that essay, journal response, or research paper to write. I think this class will help me tremendously in college as to how to construct a piece of great writing. There are many things I think I do well with when writing. For example, I like to use creative word choice and spice up my writings a bit. I also like to have my writings proofread by others which has benefited me in learning about some things I can use to my advantage to get better at. I do have a few weaknesses in writings as well. I have never been the best at punctuation and sometimes have a difficult time writing to prompts that I have to explain something. I think this course will be able to help me with my writing struggles and give me knowledge that will only help me in my future to come in

It is my belief that through this class and the tools provided, that my growth as a writer has grown through leaps and bounds I would never have assumed possible. It is not so much the skill I refer to, although I would think skill has gone up in some levels as well, but more so the appreciation for the craft of writing itself. Intially, at the start of this class my sole goal was to further my understanding and appreciation of the writer's and books that I so love to read. Through further evaluation within the first week, a few other goals came to mind, of which were, making writing a habit, finishing what I start, stop second guess my writing skills and making effective use of detail and description. Through the use of the many articles, various reading materials, whether poems or short stories, and especially through the workshop, I feel I was able to really push myself to accomplishing these goals. I have thus far learned how important it is not to be skilled at writing per say, but to have the will to write, that poetry is as much about it's sound as it is about it's subject, just how important character development is, how the narration and point of view of a story is essential to the way the story is told, and just how much of a difference peer's critiques can make to your writing.