I’ve often found that my writing reflects my personality: structured and organized. Just like cleaning my room, I place each word in its correct place and each idea in an orderly fashion from paragraph to paragraph. I’ve always kept to a perfect schedule beginning with brainstorming, outlining, drafting, and final drafting. In addition to structure, I’ve found that I have a good flow of words. Transitions are my essential tool when I write. Repetitiveness of words is a pet peeve of mine so I always make sure to vary my sentence beginnings. Using good writing structure and varied sentences stand out as my strengths as a writer.
While my construction has always seemed effective and my sentences diverse, I tend to struggle with creativity and tone, and also the depth of analysis in my writing. I’ve read countless essays, novels, and other pieces of writing in my English classes that were serious, funny, sarcastic and so on. They were all so creative! For every essay I wrote in class, I longed to be imaginative enough to write a grade-A paper that captured the attention of a teacher or a fellow peer. But for some reason my wonderfully “structured” writing often seems dry and unexciting. My lack of creativity has also clouded my understanding of the word “tone” in English writing. What is tone really? How do u create a tone when your not even speaking out loud?! Another struggle I have is delving into the essay topic at hand. For years my teachers have told me that I could be more specific, go deeper with my descriptions, and analyze better. Although sometimes I believe my analyses are thorough, they are truly not. I merely glaze over the subject and leave my paper sounding shallow and unperceptive.
My weaknesses point to the main things I’d like to improve on in my writing. I want to learn how to open my mind up and dig deep into my creative side of the brain. By learning how to thoroughly analyze a topic, I would like to intertwine my good structure with unique ideas and learn how to capture my audience. In addition, I want to master the “tone” of my writing and control my diction using descriptive words and syntax to evoke emotion and ideas in my readers. I think the best way to learn these skills is through creative exercises and practice. If I’m forced to practice writing about different topics, especially ones that require imaginative thinking, I believe that will help me to grasp not only tone but also explore a side of my brain I may have never knew I had.
I am extremely excited to begin this English Seminar class because I believe it will help me to expand my knowledge of art and open my mind to a broader spectrum of ideas rather than my regular structured topics. Already it has forced me to explore the world of blogging, which before I would have never even attempted to do! Listening to everyone talk about their blogs, the way they designed them, and also their writing topics has made me want to go and try new things on my own blog. Also, I think these field trips, journals, discussions in class, and of course, the essays, will really help me to improve my writing technique. I often gain a lot of my ideas from the help of others. When people speak about their own personalities and experiences, it opens me up to new ideas and allows me to see things from different perspectives I would otherwise not think about.
So here we go with my first blog post…I hope to see my own improvements with each Journal assignment to come!
When a sound, image, painting, sculpture, etc. evokes emotion in me, I believe it is a work of art. In this picture, you see 5 little girls holding hands with their backs to the camera, while they face the ocean. I first encountered this photo about 5 years ago when one of my best friends showed it to me online. I have 4 other best friends, so this picture fit our relationship perfectly. It makes me smile and cry all at the same time. When I look at the photo, I reminisce on all of the good times, but I also think of how we are separated now, each at a different school, meeting different people. The five of us together are inseparable and this photograph reminds me of how much each of them means to me. Every linked hand represents the bond we created over seven years of friendship and how we will never let go even when we face the vast world in front of us, like the ocean they face. This term deserves the term "art" because whenever I encounter it, I am washed over with emotions of love, happiness, and also some sadness. It connects me to my friends and to the intangible world of emotion.
