I've always been a bit nervous when
it comes to my writing. I struggle with it quite a bit, but I have enjoyed
growing and learning how to improve my writing skills in this class. Before,
even brainstorming would take me forever and a day. I think because this was a
faster paced course, it pushed me to go with my gut and no to overthink. It
forced me to just start typing and see where my ideas lead me. For me, I just
needed a push and I think that sparked creativity. Also, in my writing, I never
had a clear, well thought out thesis statement and that was one of my biggest
issues. It would seem to get lost throughout my argument. Plus, my
paragraphs never seemed to flow into one another. For my Major Project, I was
able to apply what I learned and finally had a strong thesis statement! My goal
was to improve and I'm proud to have reached that goal. I said this during Unit
1, but to me the beauty of writing is that you can always improve and alter
your techniques. I think that is very encouraging.
I think many of us agreed that getting started was half the battle. I'm not sure why starting is such a struggle. I think I go into it trying to have everything planned out perfectly and then I end up psyching myself out. Outlining a paper and gathering sources is important. However, I think it's also important to take a step back and just start typing. Literally, I had to tell myself, "Just type something already!".
Me to my brain:
It's okay to go back and revise something later. I noticed a huge challenge was probably the first few pages. Laying out a good introduction and getting through the first part of my argument was difficult. But once I was confident in it, the rest of the paper was a lot easier. Another part that was challenging was creating a title. I put so much pressure on myself to create some mind blowing. I was in the middle of writing my conclusion and randomly thought of a very simple (of course), but appropriate title. My major project was about Phoebe Robinson and how she plays a key role in female comedian's rising to the top. I referred to this as a "revolution" and never considered that I could use it in my title. Like many things in life, it all worked out in the end. I know it's cliché but taking a deep breath and just going for it really helped!
I loved your "chill for a sec" post! I agree that getting started is for the hardest part. Sometimes it is easy to stress about making the right choice or move in a paper but it is more important to make a choice than to make the "right" choice. I also definitely had a positive response to the pace of this course. Although it was challenging to fit this amount of work into a month, I will agree that I think it really pushed me to write in a new headspace. Sometimes too much time is a bad thing, and in this course there was definitely not enough time to procrastinate! I think the fast pace of this course also pushed me to make confident choices with my writing. And coming out of the course, I am very proud of how I handled the pace and all of the material!
ReplyDeleteYes, there was zero time for procrastination! The fast pace was beneficial for sure. I think if I had too long to work on assignments, I'd spend a lot of it overthinking or second guessing myself. Definitely a positive experience. And summer courses aren't easy, especially while you're trying to juggle a million other things in your life. So we all should definitely pat ourselves on the back!
DeleteI have told myself the same thing many times:"Just type something already!" I think it was one of the introductory forum posts where we talked about our goals of the class, so it is nice to see that you were able to achieve some of your goals! I agree, starting a paper or a project is rough, but sometimes you just got to dive into it.
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ReplyDeleteThank you! From what I've read it seems like we've all achieved a goal! And it's hard to force yourself to start typing something when you feel like you have no idea what you're doing, but sometimes that push is necessary. Or else you're staring at a blank computer screen for hours on end.
Hi Olivia! I think that it is truly wonderful that this class helped you to improve your writing. What part of this class do you think helped you the most?
ReplyDeleteI really like and appreciate your honesty in discussing about your writing process. It’s very relatable. We all have our own writing quirks and struggles. My own Achilles’s heel regarding my personal writing process is writing the conclusions for a paper or essay. After writing for pages and pages, sometimes I just sort of blank out, and question to myself, “how am I going to wrap this whole thing up?” I’m getting better at it, though.
Hi Olivia! I love your post, and relate to it quite a bit. I am always stressed it seems like. It is part of personality and I've learned to just work with it. This class has been very demanding but I have truly loved being a part of it.
ReplyDeleteIt has pushed me and helped me stress a little bit less of the bat, too, if that makes sense.
I agree that it is better to stress less in the beginning and chill for a second, and go back and edit later. I never really thought about things that way, but this class has really helped me in that way.
Thanks for your awesome posts and intelligent comments! Have a great summer!
Your first paragraph rang so very true. I think you just about captured all the problems and anxieties that writers face. All I thought about after turning in response papers was “is my thesis clear?” The thesis is the seed of the whole paper and all the other stuff figuratively grows out of it. Transitions and flow is always hard too. I felt like the mass of work that this class forced us all to do made for better and clearer writing. Like you said we weren’t given the time to “overthink.” Maybe that’s why we seem to have gotten so much out of this class. Because of it’s rigorous pace.
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