Dear Writer,

My name is Diana, last name not important, a girl of many nicknames, a sorority girl, a hopeless romantic, and a writer; just like you. You may not want to be a writer in the future, but almost every single career requires you to write in some shape or form. Not specifically short stories or poems, but writing.

For this class, I wrote a short story on the time following my boyfriend for the first time. I know, sounds very cringey and gushy but it got me to challenge myself to write something that I can write about every day without going overboard with all the details. It stuck with me cause during a pandemic, being forced to be online and having to do absolutely everything online, I got to be happy with a moment before this hell show started. Not the class but this pandemic. Another thing that stood with me was the poems, I have never been good with poems. Ever. And those are some of the easiest things to do as a writer. But for me, I don’t like easy, never did and never will. Poems need minimal details and needs to be something that gets to the reader without getting to the reader. I know how crazy that sounds and I promise that sounds better in my head, but it’s something that I did. And honestly, I’m proud of it, I am so proud of the poems I handed in, late but handed in and that is something that every student in college needs to feel. That ‘I did my hardest, I went as far as I could with this assignment and I did my hardest.” That feeling that makes you feel like you’re on top of the world cause you did your absolute hardest on a homework assignment that doesn’t even matter the next semester. I wrote my emotions into poems and no matter the grade, I rocked it. And you’ll feel that way in this class. 

Now as for being an online student, it sucks ass. I can’t put that into an easier term. The feeling of “Did I do that assignment?!” in your head 24/7. And the dreaded moment of getting off your bed and on your kitchen table or bedroom desk to sit in a class when your bed is a few feet away from you. But you need to feel motivated and that motivation comes with the satisfaction of “I did that. I kicked online teachings ass.” It’s so small but it’s something that got me through it. As you can see, I’m an over-emotional girl, emotions run my life. And this class helped me with dealing with becoming a greater writer while also being able to mentally put my all into writing great pieces of writings for this class. This class is a glimmer of hope in the world of being a college student. It allows you to write what you want and how you want it while also being able to meet the criteria of this class. It helps me think am I meeting 1 out of the 6 topics we had to keep thinking of when giving feedback to our cohorts. I will be looking at 6 topics from this creative writing to better my writing. It’s small but effective and it’s annoying but helpful. Professor Penner did a lot for me without even realizing it. So thank you Professor Penner and good luck to you with this class and for the other classes, you’re taking or going to take.