I have always found creative writing to be intriguing. I am fascinated by the way words can come together and transport you to another place. At one point, I even started a music blog but gave it up because it started to feel more tedious than fun. Through this class, I am hoping to restore my love for writing. Something that I am especially looking forward is reading and analyzing the various texts. I have always been curious about the minds of others and learning how they interpret things in a similar or differing way. I am also looking forward to the opportunity to cultivate my writing skills.
A potential obstacle for me this semester is feeling overwhelmed. As someone who has been out of school for some time, I didn’t really have much structure in my life. I have found there has been a silver lining in this pandemic, as it has allowed me to get my priorities straight. At the start of the semester, I created a daily routine that seems to be working for me so far. This has made it easier for me to prioritize school and get all my coursework done on time. I have also been modifying my schedule, as I see fit, when there has been conflict. Another obstacle that I may face in this class is that I find it easy to become discouraged when it comes to writing. My thought process in the past has been if I’m not great at it, then what’s the point, which can be a close-minded way of thinking. I mean, most great writers must have been mediocre at some point, right? I am hoping that through this class, and receiving feedback from professor and classmates alike, I can really become great at writing.
I am excited to get back into writing, learning from others, and just having an all around great semester. I look forward to utilizing all the resources provided and would love to hear any and all feedback.
I feel you, it is so overwhelming since this year has been crazy, with the COVID 19 and the protests. What is next? tsunamis?
So glad to hear you are managing your time very well and avoid procrastinating. Hopefully, both of us become better at writing after this class!
I can definitely relate to being away from school for a while, I took a gap year and came back this semester. It’s definitely really disorienting getting used to online classes when you were used to lecture halls and campus life. I think seeing these zoom classes as practice for when things get back to normal is a good way of looking at it. Hopefully by the next fall semester we’ll be back to real life classes. For now, we better get used to online learning.
Hi Mahbuba,
You wrote, “I mean, most great writers must have been mediocre at some point, right?” Let me answer that for you—all great writers were mediocre or worse for a long time before improving, step by step. Writing is a craft like anything else: imagine trying to dance ballet for the first time—you are not going to know the first thing about how to get started or to train yourself to improve, but over time, with training and dedicated practice, you can learn and vastly improve. Writing is like this.
Another thought I want to leave you with has to do with the idea of writing as “good” or “bad.” Instead of thinking in these binary terms, why not think in terms of effectiveness for a given situation? A text message to a friend has its own unique style based on your friendship and the conventions of texting, and in that framework, there is nothing wrong with that style of writing. It isn’t bad, it just isn’t professional or school-appropriate. Likewise, the way you would write an essay for a class has certain conventions, and if you follow them you can create an effective piece of writing for that genre. Getting stuck on “good” vs. “bad” is a false dichotomy and feels like too much pressure. Instead, ask yourself, what genre am I writing in, and what are the conventions of this genre? How can I take what I have and improve upon it?
I feel very much the same when you say you feel very overwhelmed. personally I love to be in class I feel that I learn better but like everyone else I must adapt to our every changing and expanding world. i’m excited that your excited to learn and improve yourself.