My First Writing 100 Paper

The main steps I took to write my first Writing 100 paper gravitated away from my usual writing process. To start off, I carefully went over the two articles that I used in the paper and took notes about what specific portions I wanted to quote. In the past, I honestly wouldn't go over my source material more than once or twice but now I’m beginning to see the importance in reviewing the material so you know what you’re actually talking about, haha. The other major change from my typical writing steps was the revision period after Eileen and my peers reviewed the paper. All throughout high school, I never took an “official” writing class so having this focus on the actual content, grammar, citation, etc. of my paper is a new experience. Going back through the paper and editing based on the advice and revisions I received was satisfying; I felt like, after handing in my paper, it was much more well-rounded.

                Man, I have a love/hate relationship with writing papers, haha. There are always negative thoughts when I’m in the writing process. I mostly worry about my paper not truly reflecting my thoughts; I get anxious that it will be a mess and not convey the ideas I have in my head. I love writing, I really do. I love being able to express myself in written words, especially since talking and presenting myself in front of people often mixes up my words and meanings unintentionally. I’m working on becoming a more articulate and confident speaker, but writing as always been where I turn to genuinely and assertively say what I want to say. So a large part of writing this paper was overcoming the worry that it wouldn't reflect me or what I want to say.

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                To push through this self-doubt, I had to tell myself to calm down. I had to stop myself from wanting to go in and write the “perfect” paper that would blow everyone’s minds, haha. Like I said earlier, I have a love/hate relationship with writing. On one hand, I love writing for the release of ideas and thoughts it allows. On the other, I sometimes hate writing because it’s stressful to organize all of your information and concepts while putting pressure on yourself to make the paper totally super awesome. While writing this paper, I had to find a balance between writing a good paper, while telling myself that writing is a continual work of improvement. In other words, I couldn’t let myself get hung up on the mistakes that I would make because this whole class is about becoming a better writer; I had to take the pressure off and simply write the best paper I could.

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                Overall, I’m really excited by the writing techniques and skills I’m learning in this class. As I said earlier, I’ve never had a writing course before so I’ll be gaining an abundance of new ways to improve my writing. Sometimes I can be a bit stubborn about wanting to stay in my old writing methods and ways, but if there’s anything I’ve learned at college so far, it’s that change is often good and necessary. While I do get frustrated with writing sometimes, it will always be a passion of mine; any improvements I can make to better convey my inner ideas and thoughts will always be something I want to learn.