Blogger-Post-Numero-Twenty

A. This course as a learning experience.

I don't think I'm entirely sure how well I write anymore. I used to/still would like to think that I'm a fairly good writer for your average college student, but there is absolutely no way I am ever going to remember enough about the writing processes of rhetorical, object-oriented, etc. essays to be an English professor.

As far as my views of writing, I think I now have more respect for (good) essay writers, having seen everything that they have to remember about each style of writing in order to turn out a respectable (among other writers) piece. I was amazed to find how hard it can be to do a good example of rhetorical or object-oriented writing.

I think work-shopping with other students is god as far as finding out how easy to read and interesting your piece is, but as far as technical stuff, like grammar, punctuation, etc., peer-reviews are pretty useless. For this reason, I think conferencing with writing teachers is extremely important when working on any sort of writing project - only your teacher can give you exact, accurate pointers on how to improve your work.

MY definition of ''good writing'' is a piece that is easy and interesting to read, relates to the reader in some fashion, and is free of spelling, grammar, and/or punctuation mistakes. This is how I evaluate everyone's writing - both my own and the writing of others.

I think I can now successfully recognize a few different types of writing, but as I'm planning to be an artist, I don't really think critical essay writing is going to be too prevalent in my life after college... but, really, who knows? Several people in my family have had career-changes over the years. It could happen to me.

B. Your own development as a writer during this course.

I would like to think that my writing has improved somewhat over the course of the semester, having gone back and read some assortments of stories I'd tapped out on my laptop and realizing how much now needs to be changed to make them easier/more fascinating to read. I think I've also become a bit more 'descriptive' in my writing (as far as physical descriptions and sights, smells, sounds, etc.).

I think my strengths as a writer are in physical descriptions - smells, sounds, etc., and grammar, etc. I need to work on 'emotional' writing, though. Right now I try to avoid emotional writing because it's very touchy-feely. I think this is why I had so much trouble with object-oriented writing - it's all extremely nostalgic.

Liferaft of the Rings

By the time I reached eighth grade, I had already moved countries twice, states three times, cities seven times, and houses nine times in the five years since my family had left Canada. Through all this, I had desperately clung to whatever friends I could find, hoping and praying we would not be moving again. By the time we settled in Marion, Illinois, I was enrolled in a painfully Catholic school, and starting to wonder if making friends was even worth the trouble, as my father refused to unpack in apprehension of another move. I was thrilled when was accepted into a clique of five girls who all had two things in common - they were head-over-heels in awe of their 'leader', and all absolutely obsessed with J.R.R. Tolkien's books, mainly, 'The Lord of the Rings'.

At first, I was hesitant to go anywhere near such books, having associated 'fantasy' with 'nerdy' for most of my life. However, desperation to understand their 'inside jokes' and really join in their group drove me to search out 'The Hobbit', which I was told was a prelude to the 'Rings' books.

The copy I found had been shoved roughly onto the miniscule bookshelf at the back of my homeroom class, most of it's pages torn from the binding and the pages all dog-eared or stained with food, ink or, oddly, nail polish. The next time 'silent reading' rolled around, I cracked open the pages and immediately became absorbed in the story of Bilbo Baggins and his unwitting involvement in a Dwarf-quest to recover their stolen halls and treasure from an evil dragon named Smaug.

As soon as I finished 'The Hobbit', I ran out and - having found 'Rings' to be slightly above my reading-comprehension level at the time - bought 'Fellowship' and 'Two Towers' on dvd, falling for the story of Frodo's adventures even faster than I'd fallen for Bilbo's.

Unfortunately, the clique I'd been 'accepted' into wasn't the slightest bit impressed.

"We" meaning the leader, since whatever her opinion was immediately applied to everyone else - "don't watch the movies." With that, the five of them skipped off, leaving me feeling numb as I unknowingly resolved never to be a 'sheep' again.

I've grown to become an almost nerdy 'Rings' fan, and, since moving back to almost six years ago, have started reading 'The Lord of the Rings' and 'The Children of Hurin', sought out 'The Silmarillion', and have reread my own ratty, dog-eared copy of 'The Hobbit' three times, intermitently cracking open to my favorite parts to get me through bouts of depression - knowing each time I read it, that I will never regret my decision to leave the mainstream of preppy cliques and go out on my intellectual own.