Chad
Bonar
Portrait
of a Writer
1/16/14
What type of writer am
I?
Hmm
let me think….. I am a very self pleasing writer and not in that way… Get your
mind out of the gutter. What I meant is when I write other people usually don’t
read it. So to begin with whenever I write the first thing I do is open my mind
completely so I can write what I’m actually thinking, even if it means without
the correct grammar and punctuation. So when I write my essays and stories I
use whatever comes to mind with my imagination so I can be true to my writing.
I have always tried to lock my inner critic and grammar police, it has always
helped me be able to write my stories.
When I was in high school my teacher told me I was a
great writer but I needed to work on my grammar, punctuation, and sentence
forming. When I was writing for the begging of that class I used my and I a lot
in the writing. Looks like I went back to the old habits oops, but I have
realized that when I’m writing for my own purpose I write what I want but if I
have to write in a professional manner I can. In my head as she told me this
was I can work on this but it makes me have to take something out of my writing
so I didn’t know what to think. When I got through the semester my teacher
walked up to me and said I was the most improved writer in her class. Those
were the words that made me want to start writing short stories on my free
time.
When I was younger I wrote my own short stories of random
things. When I was writing them I didn’t prepare for them I just wrote what was
coming to mind as stuff happened in life. I made my writings through what I saw
and heard in real life but just put them into a different world and I kind of
bent the memories to the story line. I did all of my writing for my own convenience.
I never really let people read my
short stories because I was super self conscious about them. I really shouldn’t
be but the writing I do is for me and I don’t like to publicize it. They aren’t
aiming to bash anybody with but I still like to keep them to myself. It is more
of a stress reliever for me kind of like when I draw. But maybe if I can get
back into it I can put some of my stories up on here. I just haven’t written
any for a while because I’m so busy with everything else right now.
When I write for my classes I prepare and make an out
line with what I’m going to do in my head. Once I get ideas for the form of my
papers in my head I start on my rough draft and fix things as I go on a new
page. So when I get done at the end I just have to do is read over it and make
sure everything is done and have a friend peer review it. I do this so when I
get done I will have my final draft done already. This way it is less work on
myself.
I am in the fraternity Alpha Kappa Lambda and as a pledge
I got voted for the position of secretary. Every meeting I have to take notes
to send out to everyone. When taking notes while people are moving quickly
giving there officer report I have to take short but straight forward notes. I
believe this will help me later on in the career field I choose (Civil
Engineering) because they like to make everything short and to the point when
writing. So joining the fraternity has its pros and doesn’t have very many cons
which has helped me out a lot already.
So what I’m going to need to work on is keeping the inner
critic and outer critic out of my mind same with the grammar police. If I can
do it I will be able to write with my full potential. What I have always worried
about most when writing is what everyone else will think so I’m going to try to
learn how to not care what others think about it anymore.
I like the things you explain about who you are as a writer here, Chad. I still wonder about some, though. What kind of setting do you write best in? Like do you need it quiet? Dim? Background noise? Can you write anywhere? Do you need music? Are you an early morning writer or a late night writer? Do you write best eating or hungry? If you could compare writing to anything, what would it be?
ReplyDeleteI liked the way you wrote this, because I could tell that you were thinking about all the options you could explore in one section before you moved on to the next. That's a good strategy, I think.
In class we talked about how to get the length without it being fluff that doesn't matter, right? One way is to refer to readings that you've done in class. Even if there was no reading assigned to that particular assignment, if there was something that struck you in a reading earlier, or even from another class, you can bring that into your paper, and let it lead you into thinking more about your topi. Sometimes there are things in the news that catch your eye and can be tied to what you're writing. I'm not saying make something fit if it doesn't, but it's another possibility. Let's keep talking about this over the semester and come up with some strategies for how to get meaningful text length, okay? You are not the only one who wrestles with that--by far!
Also, as a writer I am always curious about other writer's stories. Everyone thinks their own stuff isn't good enough--well except the folks who's stuff is horrible, then somehow they think it is amazing! JK...but it is a thing sometimes. I also get the need to write just for yourself and keep it private. It is kinda fun to have a blog because you have an audience and a venue, it gives you an excuse to write and put your stuff out there. I can't promise to have time to read or comment on things you post here that are not for my class, but you are totally free to, and I would be curious to see if that inspires any of your classmates to post some of their writings as well. Hey, once class is over, you could have your own venting-writing group!
--Mallory out