This blog post will be about reflective writing, and how I have been using it to work on my Life Choice memoir. I watched “Reflective writing” on YouTube to really get a sense of what it is, and how my Life-Choice Memoir is a great example of it. Down below I will answer some questions about my own Life-Choice Memoir.
1) Who did you work with to compose your life-choice memoir? Was this a good approach?I did not work with, anyone yet for my Life-Choice Memoir, because I am only on the first draft. However, I do intend to work with my teacher, Mr. Mangini, to revise my paper as time goes along. I feel this will be effective in helping me learn about my writing process further, as I continue to edit it. 2) What rhetorical mode, and genre are you using? I am using the rhetorical mode of narration. And I am writing in the genre of non-fiction, and the sub-genre of memoir. 3) When did you write this project? Good approach?I was a little scared to start writing this project seeing as it was such large scale compared to other things we had done in the class; so, I had waited until past the first deadline to write it. In hindsight this was a bad idea, and I intend to finish the next drafts as soon as I possibly can. 4) Where did you write this project? Good approach? I wrote my memoir while I was at home, and refreshed in the morning so I had as much time as I needed, while being comfortable in my own home. I found this was a good approach because my thoughts were clear, and I was ready to write on my own terms. 5) Why did you choose to write about this topic? Good approach? I chose to write about what I did because it is close to me, and it was a situation I wanted people to be aware of, maybe it could help someone stuck in a similar situation someday. I thought it was a good idea to write about, because it is a situation I remember very well, and I weirdly like writing about. 6) How did it feel to write this narrative ("during, after, and since")? Do you have any "if only" moments that can help you revise the draft? During the first draft it felt sort of intimidating, because I wanted to get it perfect from the first try. After I was finished I felt proud that I had written it, and I realized it wasn’t as bad as I had really thought it would be. And since I have constantly been thinking of ways to improve it, and I’m rather excited to see the finished product. 7) How will you revise your narrative? I will revise it by handing copies to my teacher, Mr. Mangini, to have him review them, before I go back into it, and not only make the adjustments he deems necessary, but to adjust on my own feeling for the narrative.
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Throughout this class I have ended up learning a lot more than I thought I would. I just assumed the class would be another boring English class of either reading, and analyzing texts, or writing many essays over and over. However, this is not what I got at all. The teacher was very energetic, and dead set on doing things differently than in the multitude of other classes I had taken. Looking back on this class after being in it for a little while, I really understand how much it has opened my eyes to many things, such as my own writing process.
The blog assignments were a big part of how I developed in the class, because I thought they would be very simple, and easy to do. However, they turned out to be much more than that, and they were very thought provoking with the wide range of material we covered in just doing “Simple assignments.” One blog that really made me look at my own writing process was Blog #2, which made use read about how famous writers went about their daily lives, and how they had oddly specific routines to really make sure that they got everything done consistently. This made me look at how I did things, and set up a more proper schedule, of writing in the morning to make sure all my work got done on time. The blog post also had us read an interesting except, by Don Murray, titled “Teaching Writing as a Process, not a Product.” This writing was probably one of the most eye-opening ones for me because it challenged what I had believed up until this point. It made me think hard that just because someone is teaching you, does not necessarily mean that they have a well-defined process on how to teach, or even write for themselves. So, in a way this except taught me how important critical thinking is, as well as being an individual, and having your own process is also important. Overall, I am very happy with the course so far, and I hope to learn more from it as time goes on. It has already taught me a plethora of new skills, and outlooks that I had never even thought of considering before. It has also helped me find myself more as an individual instead of just another number learning the same things generation after generation. I am writing this blog post to give some insight into my writing process. It will be a quote collage of quotes I have hand picked from the 3 articles, “Teach Writing as a Process, not a Product.” by Don Murray, “The Daily Writing Routines of Great Writers.” By Maria Popova, and “Bird by Bird: Some Writing Instructions on Writing, and Life.” By Anne Lamott.
Teaching Writing as a Process, not a Product (Don Murray) Quote 1: “Writing is the act of producing a first draft. It is the fastest part of the process, and the most frightening, for it is a commitment. When you complete a draft you know how much, and how little, you know.” -Don Murray Quote 2: “There must be time for the writing process to take place and time for it to end.” -Don Murray Quote 3: “He doesn’t test his words by a rule book, but by life. He uses language to reveal the truth to himself so that he can tell it to others.” -Don Murray The Daily Writing Routines of Great Writers (Maria Popova) Quote 1: “I can work anywhere. I wrote in bedrooms and living rooms when I was growing up with my parents and my brother in a small house in Los Angeles. I worked on my typewriter in the living room, with the radio and my mother and dad and brother all talking at the same time. Later on, when I wanted to write Fahrenheit 451, I went up to UCLA and found a basement typing room where, if you inserted ten cents into the typewriter, you could buy thirty minutes of typing time.” – Ray Bradbury Quote 2: “I need an hour alone before dinner, with a drink, to go over what I’ve done that day. I can’t do it late in the afternoon because I’m too close to it. Also, the drink helps. It removes me from the pages. So, I spend this hour taking things out and putting other things in. Then I start the next day by redoing all of what I did the day before, following these evening notes.” – Joan Didion Quote 3: “I write with a felt-tip pen, or sometimes a pencil, on yellow or white legal pads, that fetish of American writers. I like the slowness of writing by hand. Then I type it up and scrawl all over that. And keep on retyping it, each time making corrections both by hand and directly on the typewriter, until I don’t see how to make it any better. Up to five years ago, that was it. Since then there is a computer in my life. After the second or third draft it goes into the computer, so I don’t retype the whole manuscript anymore, but continue to revise by hand on a succession of hard-copy drafts from the computer.” -Susan Sontag Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott) Quote 1: “Often when you sit down to write, what you have in mind is an autobiographical novel about your childhood, or a play about the immigrant experience, or a history of oh, say—say women. But this is like trying to scale a glacier. It's hard to get your footing, and your fingertips get all red and frozen and torn up.” – Anne Lamott Quote 2: “Now, practically even better news than that of short assignments is the idea of shitty first drafts. All good writers write them. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts.” -Anne Lamott Quote 3: “Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it. Nor do they go about their business feeling dewy and thrilled. They do not type a few stiff warm-up sentences and then find themselves bounding along like huskies across the snow.” -Anne Lamott Me Quote 1: “Just because the first draft is not the perfect draft, does not mean you should settle for it, or even worse give up on it completely” -Daniel Kraus Quote 2: “On your first draft do not worry about having everything work out perfectly, instead write what you feel is right, you can always go back for a second draft to fix anything that was not quite right.” -Daniel Kraus Quote 3: “Having an uninterrupted stream of thoughts to write is always important; it does not matter how long it takes you should always reserve enough time so you can make sure you can think freely without time constraints weighing you down.” -Daniel Kraus |
AuthorI am a student at Delaware County Community College. This blog servers multiple purposes, the foremost being that it is to showcase many of my English Composition 1 assignments. However, it also serves to give a look into my writing processes, my personal life, and my own opinions. It is also an amazing showcase of how i have grown over the year, and how my English Composition course has influenced me within just a few short months. Archives
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