Private writing:
I used to write in my personal journal very often, usually releasing subject matter I feel the need to put into words, but for my eyes only. I plan on writing more often and maybe trying to branch out and not be so secretive. It helps to share personal experiences that might be sensitive; it not only helps the writer but also others who can relate.
In writing in this course, certain issues of craft that I wanted to work on, writing process, description:
I have found that I have a nice flow in my writing, but sometimes need to either cut down on details or elaborate them. I still have problems finding an even balance with details, I like to include many aspects in my stories so that the reader can really see what happened or how I felt. Sometimes it is easier to understand without writing everything out directly.
Writers workshop, group:
I would like to say I’m interested in continuing writing, I do enjoy it and I like putting my experiences into words- but to be realistic I am so busy with other classes and 2 jobs. Writing is important to me and I’m sure I could make the time if I am driven and determined enough.
Writing in my profession:
I like to write about my job and the children I have worked with, I think those experiences make my best essays. I have been encouraged by others for a few years now to write a book solely based on the children I have worked with because I have had some very unique experiences. Since I have and work with so many different children my memory of each child is already getting hazy, I would love to preserve my memories through my writing so I can reflect and share with others. I believe all teachers should keep a journal about their students.
For my own interests:
As I stated above I would love to write all about the kids I work with. I would also like to write more memoir type essays for one I would like to write about being adopted. Being adopted has shaped who I am and my family, I have had a unique life journey that would be very nice to share.
Long term/short term plans for publishing:
If I could write about my kids and or personal memoirs in a finished way I would love to have them published. I have had many issues with trust and being extremely secretive growing up and I am slowly but surely opening up and letting others in without so much fear.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Monday, December 3, 2007
#16
What is the most important thing I learned about writing in this course?
I learned that there are many categories that fall under the umbrella of creative writing non-fiction. Such as literary journalism, memoir, personal essays, rhetorical analysis, nature essays, reflective pieces. I learned about using some helpful tools within my writing that expand and explore my essays such as using journal entries.
What did I learn from one of my papers?
In my memoir I used an old journal entry from my hand written journal, it helped to shed some insight into my past and make my situation clearer. Segmenting my writing made my essay more clear and helped it to flow without having to write out word for word what I wanted to get across.
Which essay was the hardest to write and why?
I got very hung up on my nature essay which I originally thought would be one of the easiest. I have a ton of incredible stories that I have encountered which have been in the outdoors. This essay proved to be difficult because it had to take place in the present, I couldn’t re-tell an experience. It had to be as if it were happening right now. I currently bounce from work to school to home, a rigid routine that does not include the outdoors except walking to and from my car and building to building.
Which essay pushed me most as a writer?
My memoir is the piece I am most proud of, mostly because it is about an experience that is so incredibly important to me and I’m thankful that it happened. The story pushed me as a person and helped me to move on and let go, writing about it brought back feelings of pride and ambition. I had often recounted this story to my family and close friends, but putting it down into words made it even more real and each time I read it I can feel as if it is happening all over again.
What do I want to write about for my reflective essay, my relationship and process to writing? Some observation for how my process worked.
I will be writing about my memoir which I refer to so often because I am proud of it.What don’t I want to write about in my reflective essay and why?I do not want to write about my nature essay, firstly because I am not proud of it which makes it painful to read. My nature essay to me isn’t even about nature, it is about my mundane daily routine which I do not dislike per say, but it is such a routine that I don’t want to relive it anymore than I have to.
I learned that there are many categories that fall under the umbrella of creative writing non-fiction. Such as literary journalism, memoir, personal essays, rhetorical analysis, nature essays, reflective pieces. I learned about using some helpful tools within my writing that expand and explore my essays such as using journal entries.
What did I learn from one of my papers?
In my memoir I used an old journal entry from my hand written journal, it helped to shed some insight into my past and make my situation clearer. Segmenting my writing made my essay more clear and helped it to flow without having to write out word for word what I wanted to get across.
Which essay was the hardest to write and why?
I got very hung up on my nature essay which I originally thought would be one of the easiest. I have a ton of incredible stories that I have encountered which have been in the outdoors. This essay proved to be difficult because it had to take place in the present, I couldn’t re-tell an experience. It had to be as if it were happening right now. I currently bounce from work to school to home, a rigid routine that does not include the outdoors except walking to and from my car and building to building.
Which essay pushed me most as a writer?
My memoir is the piece I am most proud of, mostly because it is about an experience that is so incredibly important to me and I’m thankful that it happened. The story pushed me as a person and helped me to move on and let go, writing about it brought back feelings of pride and ambition. I had often recounted this story to my family and close friends, but putting it down into words made it even more real and each time I read it I can feel as if it is happening all over again.
What do I want to write about for my reflective essay, my relationship and process to writing? Some observation for how my process worked.
I will be writing about my memoir which I refer to so often because I am proud of it.What don’t I want to write about in my reflective essay and why?I do not want to write about my nature essay, firstly because I am not proud of it which makes it painful to read. My nature essay to me isn’t even about nature, it is about my mundane daily routine which I do not dislike per say, but it is such a routine that I don’t want to relive it anymore than I have to.
# 15 Answers to Q's about my writing process
How did I start?
I ran a list in my head of experiences that had happened to me recently and instances that I grew personally from. I wrote down a couple of ideas and expanded on them briefly, then later chose the story that I felt I had the most to say about and wanted to share with others.
How did you choose your focus?
I pride myself on being driven to pursue my teaching career and working with special children. I wanted my focus to highlight my love for working with my campers, but also how it can be difficult to do so successfully when my thoughts were pre-occupied with my personal life. There is nothing I am more passionate about than working with teens with autism and I was almost horrified with myself for letting my focus slip when a man was not giving me the attention I desired. My focus is my turning point of when I let go of my personal hang-ups and fully zoned in to what made me truly happy.
What did I leave out? what did I change? what did I emphasize?
I left out details of my relationship from the previous summer, I don’t like to this about it often because it is still painful. Rejection always hurts so I was reluctant in pouring out the truly good times we spent together. I didn’t change anything which now that I think about it I probably should change some names, I would be very embarrassed if my essay fell onto the eyes of who I wrote about. I wanted to emphasize the relationship I have with my campers more so than the relationship with my co-worker that went sour. My campers are truly inspiring and I did not want my essay to revolve around the wrong character.
Where did I get stuck and how did I get unstuck?
I got stuck with arranging my segments. I know I needed to include background history before any reader could understand what I was talking about. I wanted to do it in a way that wasn’t so straight forward so I did it with an journal entry I wrote. This gave my audience just a taste of history without being so blunt.
What were my major revisions?
My major revisions took place during my last paragraph, tying the story together. I had to write it and re-write it a bunch of times in order to give my story meaning and reflection. It originally was very unclear and sort of just ended without any direction.
How did my life (not on the page) affect my writing process?
My life is made up of very similar daily routines that do not change much from week to week. I work every morning in a day care, I go straight to school, go home and work with 2 different boys twice a week in the afternoons. I have enough pockets of time to write and do my work although it is often stressful, but who can honestly say they don’t have stress in their life. My writing process was not affected negatively or positively by my daily routines.
Where and when did I write my best? What time?
I write my best during the day, I seem to need daylight to stay focused. Once nighttime falls I am tired and cannot focus as well in getting any type of work done. I write mostly during small breaks at home between work and school. I am good at sitting down and getting what I need to say out, I don’t do so well in starting and stopping – I tend to lose focus and forget main points I want to hit on.
What writing rituals did I engage in?
Journaling, free-writing, getting messy ideas out with any detail I can think of.
How did I use thinking, talking and writing to develop my paper?
I reflected upon my experience and thought about all the small details that went into my story. I did some free-writing to get everything out so I wouldn’t forget anything. I did not do much talking about my story with others besides in class. Working together in my group helped because we found that we all had a similar story regarding being a girl and how a man negatively affected our lives. (to put it frankly)
How did I know when I was finished and how did I decide where to start?
I knew I was finished when my whole story came together with the reflection. The reflection was the hardest to get out in words. I could physically feel my reflection and how it changed me but I found it difficult to convey this to others. I decided to start from the middle of my experience, if I had started from the very beginning it would be too long and most likely lost my audience with too many details.
I ran a list in my head of experiences that had happened to me recently and instances that I grew personally from. I wrote down a couple of ideas and expanded on them briefly, then later chose the story that I felt I had the most to say about and wanted to share with others.
How did you choose your focus?
I pride myself on being driven to pursue my teaching career and working with special children. I wanted my focus to highlight my love for working with my campers, but also how it can be difficult to do so successfully when my thoughts were pre-occupied with my personal life. There is nothing I am more passionate about than working with teens with autism and I was almost horrified with myself for letting my focus slip when a man was not giving me the attention I desired. My focus is my turning point of when I let go of my personal hang-ups and fully zoned in to what made me truly happy.
What did I leave out? what did I change? what did I emphasize?
I left out details of my relationship from the previous summer, I don’t like to this about it often because it is still painful. Rejection always hurts so I was reluctant in pouring out the truly good times we spent together. I didn’t change anything which now that I think about it I probably should change some names, I would be very embarrassed if my essay fell onto the eyes of who I wrote about. I wanted to emphasize the relationship I have with my campers more so than the relationship with my co-worker that went sour. My campers are truly inspiring and I did not want my essay to revolve around the wrong character.
Where did I get stuck and how did I get unstuck?
I got stuck with arranging my segments. I know I needed to include background history before any reader could understand what I was talking about. I wanted to do it in a way that wasn’t so straight forward so I did it with an journal entry I wrote. This gave my audience just a taste of history without being so blunt.
What were my major revisions?
My major revisions took place during my last paragraph, tying the story together. I had to write it and re-write it a bunch of times in order to give my story meaning and reflection. It originally was very unclear and sort of just ended without any direction.
How did my life (not on the page) affect my writing process?
My life is made up of very similar daily routines that do not change much from week to week. I work every morning in a day care, I go straight to school, go home and work with 2 different boys twice a week in the afternoons. I have enough pockets of time to write and do my work although it is often stressful, but who can honestly say they don’t have stress in their life. My writing process was not affected negatively or positively by my daily routines.
Where and when did I write my best? What time?
I write my best during the day, I seem to need daylight to stay focused. Once nighttime falls I am tired and cannot focus as well in getting any type of work done. I write mostly during small breaks at home between work and school. I am good at sitting down and getting what I need to say out, I don’t do so well in starting and stopping – I tend to lose focus and forget main points I want to hit on.
What writing rituals did I engage in?
Journaling, free-writing, getting messy ideas out with any detail I can think of.
How did I use thinking, talking and writing to develop my paper?
I reflected upon my experience and thought about all the small details that went into my story. I did some free-writing to get everything out so I wouldn’t forget anything. I did not do much talking about my story with others besides in class. Working together in my group helped because we found that we all had a similar story regarding being a girl and how a man negatively affected our lives. (to put it frankly)
How did I know when I was finished and how did I decide where to start?
I knew I was finished when my whole story came together with the reflection. The reflection was the hardest to get out in words. I could physically feel my reflection and how it changed me but I found it difficult to convey this to others. I decided to start from the middle of my experience, if I had started from the very beginning it would be too long and most likely lost my audience with too many details.
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