The Significance of Writing Class Experience for Understanding Writers and Becoming One Myself

When I first entered this semester’s class, I did not consider myself a writer. I thought a writer was someone who wrote because they did it well, enjoyed it, and because it was something that interested them. Throughout this semester all of the papers I’ve turned in have earned me an A, so I can write pretty well, but I don’t really enjoy it, nor does it interest me. Even though I am a fairly good writer, I still have some things I need to improve on. One essay I wrote this year is about groups in society, throughout the whole essay I keep referring to my audience as “you”, as if I were speaking to a direct person instead of a group of people.

Through my peer and teacher reviews, I seen that this was very direct and not as appealing as saying words like “us” and “our”. It made me realize I needed to start using more indirect, grouping words to get my point across, and address, a whole audience. The peer and teacher reviews Ive gotten have also made me realize there are some good aspects to my works as well. For example, in my essay “Cliques”, I talk about how in high school I dressed like “your typical ‘goth kid’, decked out in band tee’s, jelly bracelets and baggy black pants with skulls and chains on them with the little tag on the side of the leg that bore the words ‘Hot Topic’”. While reviewing my paper, a fellow student, Cooper, said that my use of imagery took him right back to when all those things were ‘in style’. I liked hearing that my words put mental pictures in my readers’ mind, because that’s exactly what I was trying to do; get my reader to visualize what I was talking about. For me, sharing and responding was such an eye opening experience, because not only do I get constructive feedback on my paper, but I get to see first-hand other people’s works as well as their thinking processes. I feel that seeing how others write is such an important part of writing because you get to see what works for other people, and can possibly incorporate some of their styles into yours, building on the process of your own work.

Until this semester here at RACC, I didn’t think my writings were that good, but now that I’ve proven to myself that I’m capable of producing good writings, it has given me the push I need to really explore myself as a writer and try to make my images and thoughts come to life on paper, and then from the paper, to my readers’ minds. I’ve abandoned the fear that my writing isn’t good enough, because I’ve learned that with enough thought and work put into it, any writing can be good writing.

My pieces I’ve written this year have all shown the same voice, and reflect my personality well. I like this voice because it’s my own and I want my personality to show through in my writing. Every essay I’ve written this year has the same serious, yet playful, tone to them. I find I am able to get across what I want to say, but that I am also able to say it in a way that people understand and can relate to. Instead of shoving thoughts into peoples’ minds, I am able to casually state all sides of an argument, different points of view and different ideas people may have, but while doing that I am also able to clearly state my stance on things as well, and this semester has taught me how to do that. In my essay “Accelerating into Adulthood: 0-100, Too Quick.” I write about how I feel the teen driving age should be raised. While I do this, I still try to address how others may feel on this subject. For example, in the essay I talk about how a 15-year-old girl says she thinks it doesn’t matter what age people drive at as long as they have practiced enough. Instead of completely disagreeing and arguing why, I agree that she has a valid point, but I say how there are more factors to consider than just how much practice one has Without this class I don’t think I would have understood just how important it is to bring to light all sides of an argument, instead of just stating our own beliefs about it. I feel that it’s helpful to be able to do this in writings, because in my opinion it is more appealing to readers, knowing that you’re taking their opinions into consideration, instead of just stating your opinion biasedly.

This semester has changed so much about who I consider a writer and whether or not I view myself as one. I see now that writers are not just people who enjoy writing, or people who are good at it, but that there’s a writer in all of us. Every time we write, whether it be a note, a list, an essay, that right there is what makes us a writer- giving thought to something and transferring it from the mind to the paper. I still have a long way to go and a lot to learn about how to make my work better, but now that I’ve grown so much and realized what it truly means to be a writer, I do consider myself as one.