From the beginning of the semester to now, I have seen myself improve significantly. This semester was relatively hard for me and I have also been dealing with writer’s block for a while now which made it difficult throughout the semester, especially in the beginning. However, when I was writing the Women in Red essay I found myself enjoying writing the essay and it has helped with my writer’s block. When I first started the Women in Red essay I did not know where to start and took a while to just write one paragraph. But a tip that my high school teacher once gave me is to just write. Do not try to make it perfect immediately and just write. So, then I just wrote down whatever came to my mind. Eventually, I was able to get the flow of the piece and I think another thing that helped is that I enjoyed the topic. I realized that I tend to overthink a lot when starting a piece of writing and it makes the whole experience unejoyable. For example, in the first project I was overthinking on how I should start the essay or how to organize the essay and it just made the process so much harder. My writing during that project was also very weak and the whole essay itself was not my greatest. My writing definitely improved, especially my citations. My improvement is visible when you read my first project and then my second. My work this semester inspired me to continue writing even outside school whether it is a diary or writing my own article. I want to continue writing biographies and articles about topics I am interested in. By doing so, it will help with writer’s block and help with my writing skills. It will also help me think of writing as something enjoyable rather than difficult and boring.
One piece of writing I am proud about this semester is project 2. I really enjoyed the topic and also liked researching about the Women in Red I chose. Her work was really fascinating and interesting; I’m glad I came across her. At first, it was hard to get started. But once I started writing I just kept going and after having a full draft I just kept editing it multiple times until I liked the essay. From this essay and some of the writing pieces I have done in my speech communication class, I learned that when I like the topic I can really get into the zone and create a nice piece. But when it is a topic that I’m not super interested in it is really hard to focus and make a good writing piece. Project 2 was one of the writing pieces I enjoyed writing, however, I do not think it captures my writing skills at its fullest. I used to enjoy writing in high school and made amazing pieces. But up until I started college, I have been struggling to create a well written piece. Project number 2 is probably one of my strongest pieces since I started college, however, it still has a lot of room for improvement.
One piece that was challenging for me was project number 1. I was having an incredibly hard time with writer’s block during the beginning of the semester. It might be because I went multiple weeks without writing which made it difficult to adjust back. I tried to overcome this by just writing but when I went back and read project 1, my writing and thesis was very weak and the essay was not well written at all. I did not fix my writer’s block when working on project 1, however, it did improve when writing the essay for project 2. I did struggle with writing the essay for project 1 and when I look back at it I do feel slightly disappointed at myself. I feel that I can do way better than what I have written if it wasn’t for my overthinking. Something that I plan on doing since the semester is ending soon, is to write everyday so that by next semester my writing will be strong and I can use my writing skills to its fullest. Overall, this semester was difficult for me but I did see certain aspects of my writing skills, such as citations, improve a lot compared to the beginning of the semester. I also really enjoyed the content and learning more about women activism.