Belated Weekly Blog #11, Changes in Writing Process

My writing process does not seem to follow a specific pattern. Usually I wait until the last moment before I begin a writing assignment. Even if I do start early on an assignment the process is almost the same. I never really brainstorm, at least that is not what I would call it. More like, simplifying my ideas, and figuring out how to put them down on paper without sounding like a complete idiot. My writing process has changed somewhat since the beginning of the semester. I have learned to become a bit more descriptive, and now I ask myself, "How can I be more detailed about this?" Whenever I received rough drafts back with comments on how to make the paper better, I usually became angry. I did not like receiving criticism, yet if I just took those comments and used them to make my writing better, my English grades in high school would have been much better. For awhile at college I behaved the same way, but now I have finally begun to seriously consider the comments in the margins and use them to make my writing better.

There were a few assignments that gave me trouble, for example, the annotated bibliography. It was much more time consuming than I had thought it would be. Needless to say my bad judgement kept me up all night. I also needed to be more detailed as well, which was demanded of me when I received back the rough draft. I figured the assignment would be easy because it just seemed like busy work. All we had to do was cite the sources, give brief summaries on them, and then explain why we were going to use them. In the past if a teacher handed back to me a rough draft with comments explaining that I needed to be more descriptive, I became angry. I always felt that I was detailed in my writing, but I usually assumed the teacher knew what I was talking about also. So I gave in, and used those comments to my advantage, thus I received quite a good grade on the annotated bibliography. None of the assignments seemed easy mainly because I always waited until the last minute and stressed out getting the writing done. 

I write to clear up my thoughts. Whether that is through an English assignment or through journaling. In class my thoughts on the subject matter within the assignment have to be clear or else it is a bad grade. With journaling, my grammar does not need to be perfect, nor do my ideas need to concise and detailed because I know what I am talking about, and no one else is going to be reading my journal until I am dead. Maybe at some points in my journaling I will be overly detailed that way if someone was reading they could better understand what I was going through. I hardly ever journal, but when I do it is usually to relieve some stress, and get all the craziness out of my head and onto paper. Sometimes I will use my journal to take notes on a sermon at church if it is particularly interesting. 

I see journaling as a form of writing that will always be with me in my life. I can see myself writing letters to my family when I am moved out and maybe far away from home, for holidays and birthdays as well. Career-wise, writing may not play a big role. My major is currently Secondary Math Education. If I do change it, it may be to religious studies, and then I will probably become a pastor. If that happens, writing is gong to be a huge role in my life.