Beth's Writing Profile
This is the final project for my advanced writing class. With this blog, I hope to showcase my abilities as a writer.
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What I learned
I have to be okay with being not good at things. I was not born to be a humor writer. And that is okay. I am also not super at figuring out what is an incredibly creative approach to writing. Sometimes, we have to realize our strengths and play on that. (I also learned how to spell that word FINALLY!) But realistically, I am going to take many inventing/revising techniques from this class and apply them to my everyday writing, because as a history and English major, I do a LOT of writing.
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Writing Goal
I find that when I write in a journal, I can more readily write well. I love journal writing, but it is really hard to find time for it, so I haven’t been doing it as much as I should be. I feel like I can lose myself in journal writing, and I feel better about myself. It’s like mental exercise. My goal is to write everyday, with me as the target audience. Nobody has to read it, there’s no pressure to do well. It might do me good to just do this one thing for myself.
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Writing Strengths
1. I love the way I can pull sources together to write a good academic paper. I love lit analyses, and would almost rather write one of these than write fiction.
2. I love that because I am so well-read in classic literature, I can make allusions to it in my writing and can understand when someone else uses it.
3. I love that I have natural outline making skills that can help me get the writing process started as well as allowing me to pull my ideas from somewhere in an organized way.
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My Writing Process
Inventing is the most important part for me. I will know right away that the paper will not be a good paper if I have not spent a lot of time thinking about it. I usually have my best ideas right before I fall asleep, and these thoughts really drive the writing process for me.
I like to get the paper done in one sitting so I can cross it off a list. (That’s how I stay motivated.) While it may only take a few hours to “pound out” a paper, I do spend a lot of time thinking or writing notes about it. I also have to feel some pressure when I’m writing a paper, or it will not turn out as good as I like. While it seems like I’m a procrastinator, I do it on purpose. My best papers have been done the night before. I do like to have some time to edit, so I’m getting in the habit of getting them done two days before so I can edit them the day before. I don’t usually do a lot of revising after I’ve finished a paper, because I kind of do it as I go. Invention is the most important part for me. The actual writing is probably the hardest, because sometimes it is just so difficult to get started, but once I do, it goes pretty quick.
