Creative Writing, at first when I enrolled in this class I couldn’t image all of the different types of topics that we were able to cover. Upon completing the first draft for the first memoir I realized from thinking back that I have come a far way up to the end of the semester. Even as a reader looking for the small details for each of the pieces we read really helped a lot in developing how I should be writing for future assignments. Through all of the various topics we have done whether it be memoirs, short stories (with dialogue too) and poetry my writing style had to change based on the message I was trying to get across to the reader. For my memoirs it was to share how I felt in a precious memory I told dear to me. My short stories were made so that the reader can see how creative I can be with the character and the atmosphere I can create with my words. The poems I made all were based on different styles of poems from more experienced poets in my own style. Each of these topics, through how different they are from one another allowed for me to express myself.
I learned after the first few assignments for this class that even though the material we have to write about seems to be easy and outgoing to allow for us to express ourselves, it would be hard to word and put your feelings and thoughts forward for the reader to understand. In previous English classes, I wrote more for myself and for a grade without much in mind for who I was writing for. After the assignments I completed in this course I realize that I should be writing more than just for myself, or even just a grade. To write means to develop yourself through how you express the topic in your writing. Having peers grade my work and give me suggestions really helped for me to see how my writing is from the readers point of view. This is an essential part of writing because you are writing your piece for someone, whether it be yourself or another person. You are writing for a purpose to get a message across to the reader, which is what I learned more from having others grade my work (even my brother too).
As a reader in this class, all of the different pieces that we critiqued from various more experienced writers helped for me to learn how to articulate and structure what I am writing. Even reading my classmates work allowed for me to see the unique aspects of their writings that I can take notes and add to the methods on how I express my thoughts and feelings in my own pieces. Everyone has their own way of writing, whether we are using our own interpretation of someone else’s writing style or what we learned from grade school, we are all different. This is why it was difficult for me to critique my fellow peers work because it is hard for us to put what we are feeling into mere words. Giving suggestions for work that you think is good is difficult because you have to put their feelings aside to think objectively on what they need to improve on.
Even though my major, Computer Engineering Technology, isn’t revolved too much around writing, it will be useful to get simple and straight to the point in what I am telling to the reader. Whether it be in my future lab classes and the reports I need to write, or in another writing intensive class. Everyone should be able to learn and adapt their writing in any given situation, because without writing in today’s day and age we are without a voice in the windy city. Developing your writing is like developing yourself, its never too late to learn either. Reach high like I did even though writing isn’t my preferred subject.
1) There is a lot to choose from here, but when you talk but learning to write for a reader I was reminded about all the time where I struggled, in this class and in others, to figure out what my intended audience was supposed to be aside from the teacher grading my writing.
2) As a writer, you realized that you need to write for an audience, not just for yourself and your grade. As a reader, you learned that offering critiques can be difficult when you realize the writer has their own unique writing style.
3) Based on what you said, your writing has changed to be more comprehensible to a reader, rather than just to yourself or a professor.
4) learning to “get to the point” as well as being more flexible to handle different prompts will be used to help write lab reports and other academic writing.
5) The main issue is that your concluding paragraph, which addresses the last question in the prompt, seems mostly unrelated to the rest of the reflection. You suddenly bring up that “getting to the point” will be useful in academic without even mentioning it beforehand.