Writer's Reflection

Certain people are born to be writers or groomed to be one. It all depends on the persistence and passion of the writer. While being a writer has major advantages, it also has its own challenges. Anything without challenges is boring because challenges mould and train us. Some challenges can drain the life out of us, though, which is why it is good to enlist help from others when we experience them. The comprehensive editing processes, have strengthened my writing abilities. We have to be concise, original and clear in writing. I employed the same organizational and writing style for every assignment, but now I consider both audience and writing genre. In high school, the difference between my first and final draft was often negligible. Thanks to our peer review sessions, I edit my work more thoroughly, and I do not hesitate to ask for assistance. Now, my writing is more concise and dynamic. As a writer, my greatest strength is my ability to organize my arguments. In high school, I made extensive outlines for all of my essays. And in this class, I continued to build on this skill, often outlining and rearranging entire paragraphs. This semester I became aware of my continued use of polysyllabic and superfluous words in order to give my papers a more authoritative and erudite tone. I learned, however, that precise and succinct words are always preferable. One weakness of mine as a writer is my tendency to mix up tenses, and use too many words when fewer would suffice. This course made me more cognizant of these bad habits and the same writing style I often fall back on. In the future, I hope to correct my grammatical errors, and to improve the speed with which I articulate my thoughts. I do, however, understand writing is a long process and shouldn’t be rushed. I also intend to try different writing styles, and to learn to write sentences using more efficient words. I believe these goals are accomplished only through practice. And yet, despite these weaknesses, I believe my writing skills have improved because of this class, have enjoyed being a part of it :)