First Blog

My past experiences have as a writer have been varied. I, like most of my classmates I am sure, have written extensively in high school being dared by our teachers and instructors to expand our minds through literature and the written word. Over the years, I have written creatively, conjuring various short stories and tall tales that would satisfy the rubric for an essay. I have written persuasively, arguing the sides of both pro life and pro choice as well as democratic ideas versus the ideas of the republicans. I have written research papers concerning books and other select types of media. And I have written from my heart, keeping journal for the past year, often reflecting on what I had written in the months before. A strength that I would find in my writing is my style. While it may be observed as a common style for the average American teenager or as a common style for any writer, I would like to believe that I present my information clearly and effectively in every way that I can. I would also list my ability to quickly formulate ideas when writing as a strength. For this reason, I enjoy writing creatively the most. As for my weaknesses, I have a few. The one that I am most aware of and wish to change this year is my use of "fluff". Often times I will "fluff" my papers in an attempt to both make them longer and seem more intelligent. However, I realize that all this does is add a sense of redundancy as well as a somewhat superfluous nature to my writing. My second weakness I consider to have in my writing includes my proclivity to make spelling errors and have a lack of revision. This year, I would like to learn how to better present my information in a more clear and concise way in addition to giving it a more professional tone. I believe the best way for myself to make these improvements is simply to read more. People will often say that the best way to learn to do something or to better yourself in an art is to open yourself up to it as much as possible and, more importantly, to closely observe it and learn from it. I am hoping that this course will better me as a writer by opening me up to many different ideas of which I normally would not have had the opportunity to experience. All together, I really hope that this class will expand my horizons and better my writing style helping me to become an all around better author and writer.

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