Writing Misconceptions

I have always struggled with my writing assignments. If I had the option not to write I would take that option with no hesitation. I truly dreaded it, when we have to type essays. Now, I have been into two English classes where I have felt a little more comfortable in being able to write something without being so embarrassed or ashamed in what I’m about to turn it. I still feel horrible about my spelling and grammar.

I learned a few interesting reasons regarding my overall feelings for writing. Up until now, I never examined why I disliked writing. Looking back at my past experiences with writing I now have a better understanding on what was holding me back. Self-confidence certainly played a large factor in my avoidance of writing. After writing the essay on my relationship with writing, I can use what I have learned from that exercise and apply it to my future writing adventures. I need to be more self-confident, and not worry about any judgments. I need to realize that I am able to express my thoughts through writing. This exercise gave me a very good perspective on my avoidance of writing and will help propel me to write more in the future.

I have always had a love hate relationship with writing. I like to think of myself as a very creative person who enjoys being expressive with my words, that is until it comes to putting them down on paper. I have always pride myself in having an expansive vocabulary and ability to articulate my emotions clearly from a young age. I had always excelled in my Literature and English courses in High School but soon found a stronger calling in public speaking and presenting. Though a daunting task for many I always found it so much easier to speak my mind then try to format my thoughts into an essay. Writing is one of those skills that if you do not continue to practice you can lose strength in rapidly.

To better explain let me make a comparison. When I am assigned a writing assignment or I am writing because the action is being forced upon me I find myself not enjoying the process and overall the end result is subpar. The perfect example of this would be my junior year in high school when I was enrolled in AP english literature. I dreaded the majority of the class simply because there was so much writing involved in the entire course and therefore I was constantly writing just to get a grade. Being forced to write in such high volume every week for an entire school year was not enjoyable for myself and as a result the

The day I first found out that I did not like writing was when I was in high school. To me writing has always been a long process. When I had my first writing assignment in high school, it took me so long to get it done. I would easily get distracted because of anything, whether it be a bright sunny yellow bee buzzing or a big diesel truck passing by I would get distracted. This would lead me into not finishing my assignment till the last day. Another reason I don’t like

My attitude towards writing is very unfavorable. I just don’t enjoy it at all. It’s a very tedious task when you factor in all of the revision steps that it takes to produce a quality essay. Writing requires a long amount of time spent planning and preparing that is not for impatient people like myself. However, I believe that with a little bit of some confidence and patience, I could learn to enjoy myself when I write. I think it’s a great outlet for some but just hasn’t ever really been something that made me feel relaxed or stress-free. Writing just clouds my head with confusion and anxiety. I guess I can blame this on the fact that all my previous experiences writing has been academic and in a time-restricted environment. However, I am excited to see how my impression of writing changes throughout my college career now that I am not confined to a forty-minute window.

Writing has never been a real interest of mine. The only time I had to write any of my thoughts on paper was in school. I believed that one had to have that special trait or gift in them that made them a good writer, just like athletes are gifted in their sport. After reading the articles by Pat Mora and the other one from George Orwell, there can be many reasons as to why anyone would like to write.

I guess you could say my whole life has revolved around writing. Long before I was born, a boy- now known in North Carolina for his contribution to the arts- named Ira David Wood III, wrote a poem for my grandmother. It was for a baby shower, and the poem was ‘The Birth of Casey Draughon’, a humorous story about how my grandparents were so excited to have their assumed son, and find in the end that had a daughter instead (the best part is, that baby was my mother). So, already having a poem as a namesake, it’s fair to assume that by some far-fetched correlation I was predisposed to enjoy writing.

Writing isn’t for everyone, yet the number of people writing in this exact moment is pretty monstrous if you google it. Writing has basically been there for me since I was born, it was there when they wrote my birth certificate, when i was learning how to write my name, when i wrote my first essay, taking the STAAR tests, practicing for the AP test, to my first writing assignment for college. People are gifted with creating such rich, breathtaking, emotional, and deep work that last for generations and generations (not me), but writing has not always been a friend to me. The process of writing is not just write and your done, no you need to take time and let your ideas gush out (duh you already knew that) but also to edit and revise to make those final drafts. Writing can be a huge pain in the buttocks (ass), but it isn 't that bad. Here are some of my issues and strengths about writing and my take on it.

I personally enjoy writing. I always have and I, likely, always will. However, I severely struggle under certain writing conditions and prompts. For example, I found the investigation essay extremely difficult. I was largely unable to grasp how to investigate the truth behind cat erections. While I did receive an average grade of an 88%, I felt that my investigation essay was one of the worst papers I have ever wrote. In fact, I was worried I would receive a horrible grade on that essay.

The biggest error a writer can do in his essay is use, “In this essay I will talk about”, “In this paper”, and “I believe” are a few example of lack of confident a writer can show. Obviously the paper is supported by reliable sources use by the writer to empower his argument, therefore there is no need to write “I” all the essay is about the writer supporting topic.

In any profession, whether it is business related or a blue collar job, we all need to have good communication skills. Writing an essay has the same idea as having a communication skill, we all need to know how to write an essay on a professional level, one of them being when to use the word “I” and when not to use it. Throughout the semester and this year as a whole, I have learned when to use “I” and when not to use it.

Every one has their subjects that they love and hate, and for it was defiantly writing. Writing is something I dreaded for a long time; I developed my hatred towards writing since probably elementary school. I hate writing when I’m expected to put a spin on a subject that just doesn’t work for me, personally. There are many times when I have papers due and sometimes I feel like I have nothing to say towards the topic. I could write a paragraph but to continuously write paragraphs after paragraphs it gets a little harder. I always contradict myself in my writings but that is something I have grown out of. Writing is time consuming and requires a lot of effort. They require a lot of planning and usually some accompanying reading and note taking. Taking notes is one of my weaknesses. In some intuitions like my high school for instances there was not enough time is given to the rough draft and not enough feedback is given before the essay receives a final grade. I personally believe that not everyone is a "natural-born" writer; but I do believe that everyone has the capability to become a decent writer.

When I was in school, writing was one of my least favorite things to do.

I hate English classes. This has always been my attitude, always negative. In my mind English and writing have always been my worst subjects. I think the combination of struggling and having pressure to get good grades ruined writing for me. I am not sure where my hatred started whether it was from yelling matches with my mom at two in the morning as she edited yet another draft and pointed out mistakes or if it was because I never learned correct mechanics and therefore always struggled. Most students learn commas, run togethers, and passive voice around middle school; well I learned how to copy the answers from the board as my teacher wrote them. From this point on I hated having to write because I knew I would make mistakes that I did not understand. With that background, my plan as I walked into the library in January was to make it through and to work as hard as I had to just to survive. The first month was just that, hanging on. Then the weirdest thing, as you assigned grammar worksheets I started to learn what I should have learned in seventh grade. It changed my perspective, of course I still had to work hard and revise my papers, but for the first time I was able to catch mistakes in my papers. I grew so much as a writer this semester; I am now at the point where I do not mind writing anymore, and I actually enjoy it sometimes. It just proves how important fundamentals can be.