Allen’s Portfolio

Retrace Forward

In the future, I want to be able to expand my vocabulary and construct sentences that flow smoothly. Whenever I’m doing any form of classwork or homework, I feel like I’m unable to create interesting sentences that people can really relate to.  I constantly feel lost whenever I write and experience writer’s block constantly. Since I’ve come to Baruch, I’ve been feeling this way, whether it’s for homework or classwork. One class session, you showed us this text about how even the best writers don’t have the perfect first drafts. I’ve been taking these words to mind and I’m trying to be more patient with myself when it comes to writing. However, when I constantly feel lost throughout my writing, and I’m just writing words with no direction, I feel extremely shitty about myself. Something that I want to ask you is how you get through writer’s block when you experience it. Maybe you don’t experience it as much as I do, but what advice would you give me to get over it. For the future, I want to create a habit to write constantly. Outside of school, I don’t write at all, and I feel like creating a habit to write would help me a lot.

Something that gave me this newfound interest is the Teju Cole diaries that you showed me during class. Another thing that influenced my writing as I grew up is how I used to write with pen and paper, and now I’ve been typing all of my writing out. I feel as if my thoughts come together much easier when I feel my hands moving and my thoughts flowing. I just feel as if this is a matter of me having to adapt to things as I grow older. In my future classes at Baruch, I want to be able to write freely about my passions and what I want. When I write about something I’m passionate about such as discrimination or hate, I feel like I can write about it for hours. When I’m forced to write about a specific topic and placed under certain guidelines, I often find myself struggling to write more.