A quick booklist

These are in no order and by no means comprehensive. My personal blog is usually a list of what I'm reading, so you can go there or drop me a line for specific requests.

Quotidiana Patrick Madden

A Metaphorical God Kimberly Johnson

The Wet Collection Joni Tevis

A Private History of Awe Scott Russell Sanders

Les Miserables Victor Hugo

Antigone Jean Annouih

Complete Poems Emily Dickinson

Green Squall Jay Hopler

Hapax A.E. Stallings

The Art of the Personal Essay Philip Lopate

The Next American Essay John D'Agata

Happy reading! Thank you for making this such a delightful semester.

Prompt A

I know it is ironic that my farewell words are late but oh well that is just my luck. My last words are good bye. Simple, yes, but that is how I feel. We have had good times during this class together and now it is time to say good bye. If I were to leave BYU (which I am for two and a half years) I would want someone to remember me; remember something about me. This has been a big fear of mine for a long time. I have always feared being forgotten, that I would have no impact on anyone anywhere. This fear has driven my actions for years, it is why I dress the way I dress and act the way I act. All these things are meant to help me stand out from the crowd, to be different. But this isn’t enough for me; I fear that I need to do more. So that is why I try to excel in everything else I do. I try to do my best in everything in the hopes that I will rise above mediocrity.
My final advice to the world would be to slow down and pay attention to what is going on in the world. There is so much going on that nobody knows about. Get involved with the community, learn what is happening with our country. I have noticed that in the world around me that people just accept what is told to them, they never question or analyze things for themselves. Now, I’m not sure why I am going on this rant right now, but this is what I’m feeling strongly about right now. In my political science class we have been learning about things happening in our country and it just sickens me to see where we are at right now as a nation. When I hear about certain things happening in our country, I literally clench my fists and have to calm myself down. This country is not where it needs to be and it is all our responsibilities to change what we don’t like about our country. So my advice to the world before I leave would be to see the world as it is and try to change it to what it should be.
So until we meet again, farewell! I hope you do well in the subsequent semesters at BYU and I hope to see some of you graduated by the time I get back. Don’t do anything stupid and stay close to God in all aspects of your life. Live by your moral compass that guides and directs you and never sell your values for a quick reward, you are better than that. So until we once again reconnect, Mookle wishes you warm regards and the best in all your endeavors. I hope you didn’t mind my political rant, but what would my last words to you all be without one of my good ole fashion rant? Bubye

Prompt A: Last Words

I wish I had more time—there is not enough of it to do all that I want, all that I dreamed of. I will never meet the love of my life. I will never look into my children's eyes. I will never know if I am worthy of these gifts and I will cease to be in my loved ones' lives. I don't know how to say good-bye, so maybe saying what needs to be said will suffice.
I feel it is important to know that I have no regrets in my past. I would not be who I am if everything that has happened in my life, didn’t. I only regret not having a future. The plans unfulfilled and the dreams deferred taunt me. Yet I know that because I am happy--happier than I can say I’ve been--I do not need for the years I have lived to have more substance. I have experienced a quality I had not afforded to this life and have been amazed by the blessings I have received.
There is so much beauty all around me. I feel the power of God in every living thing I see. The fact that we can speak, learn, hurt, and love is testimony that He lives. I cannot express the comfort I take in knowing that because I am able to doubt, to think for myself, to communicate these thoughts to others and have them relate, there must be a greater design.
Art and creation have always fascinated me. We all have this spark within us to make something original, unique to us that others will view and connect with. Just putting something out in public is satisfying to human nature. I have caused change. I created something that forced someone to stop, and want to look deeper. I wish I have more time to make more; to have a mark attributed to me. I wish my affection could be more apparently seen in my work. We must all take the time to produce what is meaningful to us. Not what we think others will envy or want from us, but something that we are proud of and holistically represents all that we are, or even just a facet. Setting aside the moments to indulge our spirits makes life more than bearable; it causes us to become fruitful and the creations we produce nourish our souls.
I am happier when I write. I feel a deeply rooted peace when I can write down what I have been ruminating on or the ideas clustering themselves in my head. The mind is too often filled--my mind is much too busy for me to take pleasure in the single moments. Writing, performing, drawing, singing release all my energies into a focus. I breathe easier when I let things go, when I let my true nature override my hard swallowed etiquette. I am less critical of myself and therefore, I give more of myself. I feel like I am emulating my Savior when I do what I love. We all need to use our talents to their full and infinite potential. It is when we shine in our own capacities that we can fully embrace our divinity.
The most important message I can convey is drink it all in. There is no sweet without the bitter and no love without pain. I hope you know I love you.

Prompt A Week 14 Last Words

My Last Words

I know I have procrastinated in writing this blog. Waiting until the last possible moment, I have put off thinking about death. I know it happens. In my mind it happens to everyone but not to those that I love. I hate change. What type of legacy would I want to leave behind? What would I want to be known for? I think of all the accomplishments I make in life, of everything I will ever do, my children will be my biggest accomplishment. My choices will affect future generations so raising my children will be my biggest responsibility. I would gather my family together and talk to each of them. I always think of Lehi speaking to his family before he dies. Each comment he says to his children is so heartfelt. It was not simply a “I love you” it was a plea to stay strong in the gospel. This is because Lehi knew that he wanted to see his family on the other side. I would sit down and tell each of them my favorite characteristics about them: their beautiful eyes, their smile, the dimples in their cheeks, and their involuntary habits. I would then end with a plea, begging them to stay strong in the gospel. I hope that they will learn from my example, my mistakes, my trials, and my joys. I would want my legacy to be as a caring mother. It may sound cheesy or be overused but that is what I want my legacy to be. Education is important to me and a career is important to me. Ever since I was a child I was motivated in school and wanted nothing more than to be the smartest doctor. I wanted the prestige, the fame, the money, and the attention (what young child doesn’t want that). I want both a career and lots of education but I know that my children will be more important. Those chunky thighs, toothless grin, and soft hands will take my breath away. I think at that moment I will know that I have been entrusted with one of God’s most precious gifts. With this in mind I will give my children all that I have. This means that all throughout my life I will give my children all that I have. That is why I don’t know what I would say for my last words. I hope my life and my actions have been enough to show how I care and how I want them to grow up righteous. If I live my life the right way my last words will not be the most important aspect of my death. Instead it will be holding my family and not saying a word.

40 min

Prompt B

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, literacy is “The quality or state of being literate; knowledge of letters; condition in respect to education, esp. ability to read and write.” This definition seems to fit but I do not feel like it covers all the aspects of literacy. I believe literacy is not only being able to read, but actually reading. Reading many different genres and learning from each piece of reading, even if that something is very trivial. Literacy is when you read because you want to, because you get to escape for awhile. Literacy is writing outside of school, even just a personal history in a journal. Literacy is being able to critically analyze the world around you because of the things you have read and written. Literacy is being able to hold an intelligent conversation about the issues of the society in which you live. Maybe literacy could even be applied to the arts and being able to appreciate them. Listening to an orchestra, watching a Broadway play, or enjoying a painting. Literacy is an overall knowledge of the world around you and the beautiful things in it.

I am grateful for the basic definition of literacy given by the Oxford English Dictionary because it makes life that much more enjoyable. One morning I watched a talk show (I believe it was the Ellen Degeneres show) where one of the guests was a 75 year old man who had recently become literate. After 74 years in this world he decided it was time that he learned how to read and write. Previous to this he struggled on a daily basis to complete the tasks most of us do not think twice about. He talked about the hassle it was to go to the grocery store. I never realized how much reading is involved in going shopping. I look at the signs above the aisles to see where the item I am looking for is located. Rather than be embarrassed by asking for help, he would walk around the store until he found the item. He said some trips took him three hours to complete his shopping. There were so many things that we take for granted, I was amazed at his life. I am grateful that I know how to read and write so I can do these simple tasks without thinking twice about them. I am grateful for my deeper definition of literacy as well. I am grateful that I can enjoy reading a book. There is a comfort in snuggling up in your bed and getting lost in the pages of a book. I really believe that the arts give us a chance to escape from the realities and stresses of life. I am grateful that I can be informed about my surroundings and the issues that are present in our society. Being literate is an important part of being a productive member of society. It impacts the way we live our lives and the way that we view the world around us. I think literacy brings a new level to the routine of life.

519 words

Lilly Pyle

Last Words

Starting out the semester, I thought I could do it all.  I never thought of endless papers and tests.  I was hopeful that I would be able to do everything and then have a great social life after.  I was wrong.

My last words to my first semester at BYU.  Goodbye.  No more extremely heavy workloads in one semester, it's not very healthy.  Almost every day this semester I got up early to go to my practices.  After practice I would get ready for school and then go to my classes.  When school was over I went home and did as much homework as I could squeeze in before it was time to go to bed.  It never got all the way done, surprise surprise I know.  I would shower, then repeat the cycle over again the next day.  A lot of weekends were spent in my apartment studying or getting ready to go to a football game.  Then I would get up early Sunday morning and prepare my lesson if I had to teach because that was the only time I could fit it in (what I plan on doing this week as well).  

The whole thing was never ending.  There was always something to be done.  Cheer here, write there, do this, do that.  Lists were always running through my mind so I wouldn't forget something important that I was supposed to do.  Most of the time I remembered what I was supposed to do, but sometimes something would slip from my mind.  

Wondering where the social life fit into this?  Well it didn't.  Sad, I know.  I wanted a social life so badly, but that would have meant letting my grades suffer.  I wasn't about to let that happen.

I feel bad for my parents.  They received multiple calls about how stressed I was and I wasn't having any fun and how I didn't want to be in school anymore.  I told them I wanted to quit, but deep down I knew I wouldn't.  I would be so ashamed of myself for not getting a degree.  But what to graduate in? I still have no idea what I want to study.  There were many tears over the phone to my parents about all of my worries and stresses, and they were always there to comfort me.

I went home to my family as often as I could.  I needed to get away from school and all my worries for some weekends.  Going home was the highlight of my semester.  It was somewhere where I didn't have to think about my tests or papers that were due the next week.  I could actually sit down and watch something I wanted to watch without my roommates beating me to the T.V. and have them watching something during my favorite shows.  I had real food while I was at home too.  Getting good wholesome meals felt good to my nutrition deprived body.  Home was just a place of relaxation and good times with my family.  I'm grateful for only being an hour away from home so I can go home.  

Next semester I am going to take a lighter work load.  That way I won't feel so burdened and weighed down all the time by school work.  Don't get me wrong, it is college and I know there is still going to be lots of work to do, but hopefully not as much.  I am going to fit in a social life somewhere so I can get relief from school and the stresses of life.  Goodbye bad first semester.  Hello hopefully better second semester.

40 min.

Class Evaluation

A. What are your last words? What would you write if you knew your time was up (in life, in a relationship, in a place, etc.)? What would you notice in the world around you? What is important for others to hear?
Well, it been real. I had a lot of fun, even though it was not a terribly pleasurable experience. If they're wasn't the pressure to attend once you had a certain number of absences, and if they're wasn't the work was not graded only critiqued, and if the class was at a different time. I really did like the other students and the instructor though, its just the class isn't something I find at all agreeable.

B. What is literacy? Expand your definition. Write on why you are thankful for literacy and how it impacts your life.
Literacy as I understand it is the ability to read and write. To expand the word
"literacy" you could say that it is another way to communication with your fellow human beings other than visual, verbal, or telepathy. I am thankful to be literate because it helps me to communicate and be able to interact with other human beings and groups of human beings. Literacy impacts me in a variety of ways. I find it especially important in this time of my life as I learn and attain new knowledge. Without literacy this process would be incredibly diffeicult. One could only attain knowledge by hearing or seeing it. Literacy plays a huge part of my life.

C. Write the obituary of our class. Personify what you learned. Praise it, excuse it, justify it. Tell its story and bid it a loving or condoling farewell.
I feel like I knew what I learned on a personal level. In fact I almost feel like I could name it Jeff. Jeff was a good man. Getting to know Jeff may have been a slightly abusive process. But in the end Jeff taught me a lot about life, or at least how to site a online article. But any way you slice it Jeff was an important man to know. I'm slightly sad that Jeff is leaving but then again I never like Jeff all that much to be honest with you.

Prompt A: Last Words

My last words. I don't know quite where to start. I have to say I haven't lived long enough to feel like I have a lot of wisdom, so my final words will have to be based on the short 25 years I have lived. If I have learned one thing about happiness in my life, it is to focus on what REALLY matters.
What makes a life successful? I think success is different to everyone. A good friend of mine wrote a blog post some time ago about how she hopes someday she can make more of herself than she is today. Her idea of success was having plenty of money to travel and see the world and have the nice things she dreams of. I was saddened by that measure of success. While I see the merit in having lofty goals, I don't think without money and travel that someone's life is a failure. I remember commenting on her blog that if I never have any more money than I do today, but I have a loving family and relationship with my family, and become a better person every day, I will consider my life a success.
While that sounds really cheesy, I truly feel that way. I don't know if I will ever have the money to travel to Ireland and play golf as my husband and I would like to. But if I really think about it, will it change my life much? Not really. Will it make me a better person? Beyond exposure to another culture, probably not. What will change my life is the relationships I have with others. The way I treat other people. The relationship I have with my husband. The sacrafice of being a mother if I am given that opportunity. Those things will change my life on a daily basis. Those things are the important things to me.
Today on my lunch break I was thinking about life in general. I concluded that life is good. My husband and I are blessed regularly to have the money we need to survive and then some. We have a wonderful marriage, a nice home, good jobs, and a lot of extras. We have our ups and downs. There are some live that seem better than ours, and some lives that seem worse. I have heard once that if we all hung out trials out on a clothes like, you would pick yours and I would pick mine. I usually would pick mine over those of people around me. I know how to handle mine. I am grateful every day for the blessings of being able to handle them.
I am not an expert at life, and I don't believe I will ever be. Realizing the abundance, the good things, and the blessings in life seem to be the key to happines for me. Will I have a successful life? Who knows, I guess I will wait and see.

42 min

Class review

1. What was most helpful to your development as a writer, reader, and thinker? Why?
The variety of the prompts and the shear amount that we had to write; because we wrote so much I think I explored other ways to write just to keep it interesting.
2. What can you do to continue/improve this development?
I could continue writing about new prompts and revise and look over the work I've already done.
3. What did you learn from the reading in this course? Which essay(s) did you enjoy the most? Why? What did it teach you about good writing?
Things I've learned from the reading in this course reading is very opinionated process and it was a good experience to see and hear everyone’s reactions to the reading. The variation in our own class was pretty amazing.
4. Describe the writing process that you find most beneficial for you. Why does it work? How can it be improved?
I find that it helps me to start at the beginning and work back chronologically. This is usually the best method for me, it helps to organize my thoughts and I can better plan what should go next.
5. How has the blog been beneficial to you as a writer and as a person? How? Why?
It has given me the opportunity to write and think on a wide range of topics. I think that the prompts and the available ways to respond to those prompts really helped me to try new things and
6. What was your favorite assignment of the semester? Why?
I liked the blogs a lot. I liked the way they changed from week to week and were never really the same topic. They just had you write and think.
7. What was your favorite part of class? Why?
Peer editing was one of the highlights of the class. It was nice to work with other people. The round table discussion with the teacher and other students was very beneficial.
8. How is the final portfolio beneficial to you? How do you think differently about your writing because of it?
The final portfolio is beneficial to me because I get a chance to review my writing and re-work some assignments that maybe needed more revision. I think differently of my writing because I know that it has changed and will continue to change.
9. Why is submitting your work to a public audience (on the blog and to journals, etc.) beneficial?
Submitting your work to the public is beneficial because you are able to receive feedback on your work. You are also helping to spread ideas and maybe inspire someone else with one of your ideas.
10. If you were to take this class again, what would you want to change and what would you want to keep?
I would change the hours to sometime in the morning and be to make up classes easier. There is a lot of things I would like to change but without them it wouldn’t be an English class anymore.
11. What did you learn in this class that you will apply to other situations? How?
I learned to have more fun while writing. I will use this in my jobs, so if I ever have to write something I will be able to do so with much more confidence and happiness.
12. What makes good writing? Why? Give examples. How can you contribute to that sphere of good writing?
I think what makes good writing is if it is enjoyable or interesting to someone somewhere. Not necessarily me, but someone out in the world. An example of this would be any fifth grader’s paper they write. It could have the most atrocious grammar the planet or humanity has ever seen, but I guarantee you that the parents or guardians of that child are still going to enjoy that jumble of words for years to come, at least that what my parents tell me.
13. Anything else you need to get out about the class.
I sincerely do not like writing or English classes but the class and the instructor made it about as enjoyable an experience as it could be. I often left the class really excited to write and explore ideas, unfortunately this feeling was gone by time I reached my dorm, but the feeling was there none the less. I had a really good instructor for English in high school, I would even get out of the class I had after English just to go back to English and hear the lessons again. This class brought back that excitement. But to be honest, I just really hate to write.

Only Child

She walks behind me. Following in my shadow. Yearning to learn, she follows my footsteps. From my example she learns what not to do and what she needs to do.  I take inches and in my shadow she is able to leap feet. I envy her spirit, her ambition, her way with words, how she has been able to do right everything I have done wrong. In the same breath, I love her, she is everything I am and more. She is my best friend and worst enemy. It is easy to fight her and even easier to forgive her. She and I are the closest any two people can be but I have never met her. I have never had a sister.

I have always wanted a sibling. Someone I can confide in. Someone who always has my back no matter what happens. Over the years I have tried to fill that gap with friendships but they never last. They fail over drama, lies, and pain. No, there is nothing that can replace that bond that I see with in a family. Sure, I have a family. There is me my mom and my dad. The three of us, but is that really enough? Being the only child has given me so much. College, moving out, anything I have ever needed I have gotten. I am not spoiled and yet I am. I have never seen debt, or come close. There are disadvantages and advantages to being the only one.

I can hear a pin drop in this house. The sounds echo and reverberate off the walls and nothing can be done in this house without someone hearing your every step. That is the quiet of a three person family. I have grown accustomed to the silence. It is weird to be around noisy families or big groups of people. At parties you will find me with a small group of people discussing things instead of being in the middle of the crowd. During other peoples family things, the few boyfriends families I have gone to, I find myself in a small corner away from everyone. People think its because I’m shy but really I just like the sound of nothing. It gives me peace. Having quiet scares some people, it makes them nervous. Me, I love it. 

“Under pressuring pushing down on me pressing down on, Under pressure.” Being the only one around things fall to you. Things that normally would be given to other siblings or would be more spread out among siblings. When I screw up, its all on me. I’m the only one they have so I can’t mess up. For the most part, this hasn’t been a problem for me. I love school and have enjoyed getting good grades. I have been a good kid. I haven’t screwed up to bad yet. Sometimes though, I feel like the pressure is to much. Like the walls are closing in and there is no way to jump out. I think that my perfectionism comes from that. The feeling that if I fail I am failing much more then myself. I know that every teen feels pressure. It is something that comes with being that age but being an only child hasn’t made this part of my life any easier. 

Girls need people they can confide in and tell things to. Some girls tell their friends but a large majority tell their sisters. I haven’t ever had friends I could trust telling my secrets. Not until I started hanging out with boys, and even then I couldn’t always trust them. I have only had my mom to tell things. This has its ups and downs. She is a good sounding board sometimes but she always gets to caught up in my life. It my life. I am supposed to decide what to do with my friends without her being involved all the time. Sometimes it hurts more than helps when she hears my problems. So, I keep them inside of me. I don’t choose to share many of my secrets with anyone so when I do, I must trust that person deeply.

I would never take back my memories but I wish I had more people to share them with. I have to forgive my parents for giving me everything I need except a sibling. They weren’t able to give me that. 

Class Evaluation

What was most helpful to your development as a writer, reader, and thinker? Why?
The most helpful part of class for me as a writer was the development of a structure that I can use for my writing process. I didn’t ever really understand or utilize the first draft and then improve method. I wanted my first draft to be perfect and so I would sit and stew and delete far more than I wrote. The class helped me to realize that I can begin at a place that I am not happy with, and then improve from there. I was also challenged in this class. I don’t feel like I was able to sail by, as I was in high school or other English classes because I was above the curve. I was assessed on my ability and made to improve from there.
The blog was a joy for me. I found that I did some of my best writing for the year on the blog. I was able to capture an emotion in my writing. I have some pieces from there that I will really treasure.
As a reader I was given a whole new genre. I had never really read essays before this class. I have something entirely new to discover and to love. This has given reading new life for me. I really enjoy the idea that so much can be said with so little. I love to try and coax new meaning out of a sparsely worded piece.
As a thinker I grew to understand, or had to make, connections to why I feel the way I do. I had to not just write down my conclusions but to take the reader step by step through the thought process. It was very difficult for me but I learned about myself and about the writing process and I discovered that although I felt like some times I was stating the obvious e.g. that the extreme things women do for beauty are wrong, that when I did walk through them the things I had to say became much more powerful and personal rather than just stating them.

What can you do to continue/improve this development?
To continue and improve I must write more. I need to write for me, not for a class or assignment, but for me. That is where there are no boundaries and grammar rules or MLA formats. In that place I have found that I do my best writing. I need to confront some of the serious things in my life. When I write for me it is usually a simple log of my activities and feelings for my journal. If I were to start writing for myself, but tackling the serious issues in my life, I would be going somewhere.

What did you learn from the reading in this course? Which essay(s) did you enjoy the most? Why? What did it teach you about good writing?
I learned what the essay really is. That is has much more potential then people give it. It is an underutilized writing type. There were all kinds of great snippets that I picked up from the readings. It is hard to put them all down here. I learned that I was really adverse to the conventions. I knew I hated grammar and punctuation, but I didn’t realize how much. I learned that I am afraid of having children because of that little bit at the end of A Farewell To Arms when the wife and child die. I don’t want to put the person that I love most in the world into that much danger and pain and chance. I pulled that out of Anchovidad. I really liked that piece. It was humorous but it brought up a serious point that we learn to know and love our children. I guess I would learn to know and love a child, but I am afraid of risking someone I know for someone I don’t
I loved the knife, and Rooster Fish. Final comprehensive. Roughly taught me something that I already know. You fail fail fail before you succeed. I just think it is stupid to purposefully put so many failures in front of people that they don’t make it through them. Why physical science for a writer? I don’t need that. Don’t go on about how “you may learn something that you will write about, or you will be able to converse about science, or you are learning how to learn.” my TO WRITE ABOUT: folder is brimming already. I can hardly get to the material I have because I have to be troubled about wither or not electricity is a wave or a particle. Let me learn how to learn on things I WANT TO LEARN! I fell like Matherly was going through the same feelings that I am in this period of time when she wrote this essay. Those are just a few of the things that I learned.

Describe the writing process that you find most beneficial for you. Why does it work? How can it be improved?
I need alot of time to work on something before I turn it in. I also need no distractions. I want a pure week of writing and revising before I can turn in an essay. Ideally this would be the best writing process for me. I learn about an assignment and I begin work early. I have a completed draft about a week in advance. I can take the draft to my writing circle and have them look it over and call me on my bull. Then I take it back and I write again. Back to the writing circle, and more changes. I want this to happen three times before I finally have the real essay, the changed and refined writing that I am proud of ready to turn in.
To improve this process I think that I need to plan to give myself time, and actually work when the time is available. I also need to get further south or buy a sun lamp or something. This winter business is just too much for me. It saps all the drive and life and love out of me for some reason. So to improve I need to utilize my time, plan so I have the week, and get out of the house and to my writing circle.
The writing process I have works because I am honest in my writing, and I have to come down to the How/why’s of things. I am challenged to be better and not accepted for the first piece of writing I put out.

How has the blog been beneficial to you as a writer and as a person? How? Why?
Well the blog has made me a better writer. It stretched the scope of things that I believe I am capable of covering in my writing. It also made me read and react to writing in a more sophisticated way. I wrote with a certain goal in mind. I tried to evoke a certain emotion or reaction from a reader where previously I threw things out there and didn’t really pay attention to what they did to people or me when they were read.
As a person the blog has been beneficial to me because of the things it has captured that I would have other wise let slip by. The writings in the blog have been things that I will treasure and things that I am proud of.

What was your favorite assignment of the semester? Why?
My favorite assignment of the semester was the short personal essay. I felt like we had the most freedom and space for creativity in that essay. As the year went on the creative factor was harder and harder to squeeze into essays because of all the MLA formating, research and conventions. I am not saying that I didn’t learn alot from those or that I disliked the writing I did in their boundaries. That pure freedom to write something meaningful and creative and have it taken seriously was very wonderful.

What was your favorite part of class? Why?
The writing conferences. I felt like the energy and the learning and the development in that setting was great. I think that was a significant part of the development I gained in this class.

How is the final portfolio beneficial to you? How do you think differently about your writing because of it?
I believe the final portfolio made me take my work seriously. It let me see it in a book with a title page and a cover and I got to put some creativity into the portfolio which was cool. I really am glad that we are not having a final about grammar and conventions and MLA formating. So the portfolio saved me from that. It also let me present my work to people in a serious way. To pitch what I have written to people and tell them why I think it is important and significant. That is something I will hopefully do in the future so it was a positive experience to have some practice doing it.

Why is submitting your work to a public audience (on the blog and to journals, etc.) beneficial?
I would love to write for my living. To submit what I have written is a real step I have to take. To be forced, or guided more so, to take that step was nice because now I have that experience under my belt and I know what I will take and what the process will be like and what to expect sort of. I think it will be a good thing to know. I also loved the feed back that I got from people in the class and from the journal i submitted to.



If you were to take this class again, what would you want to change and what would you want to keep?
I would throw all the conventions and MLA stuff out the window. I would focus on the creative and the truthful and emotional and real. I don’t want to come across to negatively on what I will call the “restrictive” part of the class, because I learned alot even in those restrictions, but I felt like what I was learning in the “free” part of the class was so much more important. I wanted to focus on that.

What did you learn in this class that you will apply to other situations? How?
I learned that walking the reader through a thought process and explaining details can be much more meaningful than just stating a conclusion that I came to. I am going to apply this to my personal relationship. I can communicate much more effectively with my parents if I tell them, step by step how I came to a conclusion rather than just state it and try to defend it.
I learned that my writing improves with time and attention and work. That I can develop success over time. I learned that if I plan and am ready in advance that things go much better for me. I am going to take this to other classes, and to my place of employment. To my next college program and to relationships.


What makes good writing? Why? Give examples. How can you contribute to that sphere of good writing?
Good writing for me is a combination of many things. There is a certain feeling or energy in the writing that I connect to. I would call that the pace or the tempo.
Speech is something that is difficult to capture, so good writing must do that. There have to be conversations that I feel are real and compelling. I love to be able to feel like I was a part of an interesting conversation in reading. I pick up most of my speech patterns from books and writing.
Kind of on that same note, I want the author to connect to me on a personal note. I feel like the best writing is written to me and the author is letting me into his inner circle and having a personal aside with me.
I can contribute to that sphere of writing by making sure that my writing does the things that good writing is supposed to. I can check to make sure it does by having people I trust read my writing and be honest with me about its potential and strong points.

Anything else you need to get out about the class.

I don’t have anything really it was a great class. I am just sad that I have to disconnect kind of and move on. Wish I could have it as a permanent class on my schedule.

Final Blog Assignment

A. What are your last words? What would you write if you knew your time was up (in life, in a relationship, in a place, etc.)? What would you notice in the world around you? What is important for others to hear?

B. What is literacy? Expand your definition. Write on why you are thankful for literacy and how it impacts your life.

C. Write the obituary of our class. Personify what you learned. Praise it, excuse it, justify it. Tell its story and bid it a loving or condoling farewell.

What was most helpful to your development as a writer, reader, and thinker? Why?
Having a variety of writings required helped broaden my horizons of writing. If we'd written one kind of essay over and over again it is true that we would improve our ability to write one kind of essay. Writing encompasses so much more than one form or one ideal. By writing many different essays we're able to discover what kind of writing we most enjoy and experience a sliver of the vast expanse of writing.
What can you do to continue/improve this development?
I can keep writing. It's like everything else in life, the more the you do it the better you get at it. Like violin or speed reading you improve by meaningful repetition. Luckily I have several writing projects lined up that will allow me to continue writing
What did you learn from the reading in this course? Which essay(s) did you enjoy the most? Why? What did it teach you about good writing?
The readings taught me that there is no one best way to write. Writing isn't about trying to appeal to everyone and doesn't always have to be about some deep deep dark truth. It can be about a light subject and still be philosophical.
Describe the writing process that you find most beneficial for you. Why does it work? How can it be improved?
I'm a firm believer in Anne Lamott's idea of “shitty first drafts” they're the best way for me to start to writing process which is the hardest step for me. After I get the first draft down it's just revision after revision after revision until it's done which is probably never.
How has the blog been beneficial to you as a writer and as a person? How? Why?
The blog has useful in the same way that the diversity of essays was useful. They were each another mini essay.
What was your favorite assignment of the semester? Why?
Personally I thought the portfolio was the best project. It was a nice book end to the semester. Taking the time to look back on and improve many of the writings I did throughout the term helped show me what parts of my writing had improved and the parts that hadn't.
What was your favorite part of class? Why?
I enjoyed the in class discussions. Everyone had their own opinions and the classroom environment was such that people didn't even hesitate to make that opinion known.
How is the final portfolio beneficial to you? How do you think differently about your writing because of it?
See above for benefits.
The portfolio helped me view my writings not as individual and singular pieces but as parts of a whole.
Why is submitting your work to a public audience (on the blog and to journals, etc.) beneficial?
It's the way the world works and getting used to jumping through the hoops in the submission process is good practice.
If you were to take this class again, what would you want to change and what would you want to keep?

What did you learn in this class that you will apply to other situations? How?
I think the writing process that I've been using for this class will be helpful in all my future writings.
What makes good writing? Why? Give examples. How can you contribute to that sphere of good writing?
Good writing can't be defined by one set of heuristics. There's good writing in all genres, sometimes that may only be a few paragraphs but there's good in all writing. The literary world has become so broad that a writer must find their niche and excel. I'm still looking for my niche so I'll have to get back on the specifics of what I'll be contributing.

Final Questions

• What was most helpful to your development as a writer, reader, and thinker? Why? The amount of good writing we read, wrote, and thought about was incredible. I did not know that such amazing material was available or that writing so personal could be so touching. My writing ability grew through our continuous discovery of how to better the way we approach writing, the way I approach writing.This semester, my view of an essay has changed for the better: I now see essays as truths and the ruminations of my mind, instead of ambiguous prompts that we must fulfill for a grade. It was such a crisp realization to learn that everything I'd learned in high school was undeniably false. It is not wrong to put myself in my work; in fact it's better for it.
  
• What can you do to continue/improve this development? I can continue creating work from a personal place, access a type of writing that represents my own experience, even if it's just an echo. I believe that viewing writing as expressin what's inside of me is a much easier way to see it. It also helps me be freer, lets me let go and forget the editor in my head. I can use this knowledge to improve my writing by always implementing it when I am doing a paper or other creative works. I will write what I think and write the way I think. That's when my opinion shines as its own and my voice is revealed.
  
• What did you learn from the reading in this course? Which essay(s) did you enjoy the most? Why? What did it teach you about good writing?  I learned the broad range of essays available and the various styles of essayist I admire. Mimicing or incorporating the techniques I saw in their writing helps my own to become more developed and unique. I enjoyed Doyle's "Rich, rich, rich," both of Matherly's pieces, Selzer's "The Knife," and A.A. Milne's "A word for autumn." They were essays with grounding and I felt a great depth from them. I found that I enjoyed essay that didn't apologize. They were how they thought and just live in their world whilst opening it up for my own.
  
• Describe the writing process that you find most beneficial for you. Why does it work? How can it be improved? I start just writing down everything that comes into my head in a sort of written spew that touches on the swarming thoughts that come from ruminating. Once it's all out, I get to the dirty work. Revise, rewrite, revise, rewrite some more. I go in and try to be more personal, more consistent, more concise, more creative, etc. Repeat for eons til I get it where I want it; a suitable essay. It works because letting go is the hardest part. Then the work or polishing is easy because I know, or at least have ideas, of how I want it to turn out. I believe it is a wonderful method, tried and true. Yet I had to discover the most crucial concept: the initial just writing. 
  
• How has the blog been beneficial to you as a writer and as a person? How? Why? Well, for one it gave me a deadline and consistency that I don't normally enforce upon myself. There is also an openness to the blog that I loved. It was a break for all the tedious schoolwork I had and let me be myself. Though it is still for a grade and is in front of my peers, there wasn't a need to be perfect or competitive. As a writer, I grew by knowing that I could let go and be respected instead of judged. I also loved reading my peer's pieces and see the spark catch fire in them as well. The prompts were all so creative that I had to stop and assess which I wanted to do most, something new for me. Other classes would just force me into a corner with dull assignments, but with the blog, I had options. I write better without restrictions. Breaking/bending the rules has always benefited me in essays in this class. I am rewarded for the risks I take. That's how it should be.
  
• What was your favorite assignment of the semester? Why? I loved the blog, but lately it had been the final portfolio. I squeeze out all the art in me and make something, create something I am proud of. It's wonderful to look back at all of the wonderful work all of us have create over the semester and then combine the highlights for a beautiful project. I also enjoy the fact that I can see my growth and development as a writer, because during the class I felt I couldn't progress fast enough. I see now that it is a process.
  
• What was your favorite part of class? Why? I loved learning all the general knowledge about classic essaying, but moreso the adapted, modernized version of the essay. I truly hadn't the slightest that this type of writing was available and encouraged. Discovering new voices was incredible and developing my own was wonderfully gratifying.
  
• How is the final portfolio beneficial to you? How do you think differently about your writing because of it? It lets me directly see how I've grown and the difference approach makes. I love being able to creatively put together my pieces in a way that is unconventional. I love pushing my writing and craftiness to the areas were they take on a life of their own. I think of my writing as a children that needs attention and love, nourishment and care. Also a lot of patience and persistence that have been tested this semester. I feel that I have a better sense of direction and a "core" in which I can work towards.
  
• Why is submitting your work to a public audience (on the blog and to journals, etc.) beneficial? I gave me the audacity to submit. I stopped worrying about it being perfect and just revised as much as I could. Just because I am young and thus uneducated does not mean that what I have to say it's valuable and interesting. My mind works differently, yes, maybe unrefined compared to the works of the greats, but I still have one. The thoughts that cross it are just as valid as any other and the craft and style I use to express them is unique and my own. It gave me the guts to just do it. Worry about the results after. It was liberating.
  
• If you were to take this class again, what would you want to change and what would you want to keep? The blog needs to stay and the final portfolio! They are wonderful assignments and facets of the class. I hated the analysis essay but that is only because it wasn't my style and I couldn't seem to put my myself into the essay nearly as much as I wanted to. I also didn't think the constant feedback of the class was needed. I loved the class and wanted to keep doing the assignments and dicussing the works we read. There was so much to process and learn I fell in love with the class. The need for validation became like the wet blanket of neediness in this relationship. Yes, I really do love you. I'd love you more if you didn't have to ask. Let's do more of the fun stuff together.  The "work" never was becoming tedious until it asked if it was so.
  
• What did you learn in this class that you will apply to other situations? How? I learned to learn, observe and gather--let my thoughts run wild, then record them the way they are. Granted they will need some elbow grease to make into essays. I've also been told that school is not for the learning of information, rather it is for the learning to love learning. So loving each new assignment or challenge has helped me become a better student, a better person. I have also learned that great advantage taking risks gives. Putting myself out there in the cold, plain sight is much better than hiding in the shadows, longing for recognition.
  
• What makes good writing? Why? Give examples. How can you contribute to that sphere of good writing? Good writing is honest and unique, sincere and brash. Good writing doesn't apologize. That is the greatest thing I learned this semester. Don't back down. It's worthwhile to follow through. Good writing open eyes and connects with something inside the writer because it took so much for the writer to dig it out. "Blind Imagination" rocked me with its bravado and that's what I believe is necessary. Cassie's "Heart Sounds" connected with some part of my humanity and I still can't quite describe how I was affected. The sincerity of most of the pieces we read really took me aback. I can contribute to this same cause by being as honest and real as I possibly can. I will write works that are so hard to rip out but feel so good to be read and loved. Giving of myself has always given me more blessings than holding back and forfeiting. I will write as long as I have this life within me.
  

Evaluation

1. The most helpful thing that helped me in this class was the fact that we read so many essays and other pieces of writing. I think that seeing what is out there and what you like is the first step in becoming a good writer. I saw some styles that I really liked this semester and I have tried to put some of their influence into my own writing. Also the rush writes were very good. They got me writing just whatever came into mind since we were working with such a limited time. This helped me deal with worrying about everything I write. Now I find myself being able to write more easily.
2. Simply, I can continue reading what is being published out there. In my creative writing class, someone said that before you write in a specific genre you should read at least 40 pieces in that genre. If I want to write essays, I should be constantly reading essays. My ultimate goal would be to finally finish/publish my fantasy novel but before that I believe I need to read more to see what is being sent out right now. I can also continue using rush writes by keeping a writers journal, which I have started doing.
3. I don't know why, but I really enjoyed Rooster-Fish. I learned from all the readings what exactly are essays. I have never really read much of the genre but now I find that I like them a lot. I like the style and the skill it takes to write a good essay. Rooster-Fish taught me about how to put personal experience into creative writing. Good writing needs to have that personal touch to it or it just comes of as pedantic and preachy. Personal touch gives the reader a connection to the writer.
4. My writing process is unique for me, or I think it's unique. For a week, I just think about what I am supposed to write. I'll jot down a few ideas that pop into my mind and before long I have quite a collection of ideas. After I look at my list, I start thinking about how I can weave the ideas together into something resembling an essay or writing piece. After that, I just sit down and put down all my thoughts onto paper and it is decently close to the final product. Very rarely do I do any rarely revisions unless something is just not working (like my fragmentation style in my research essay).
5. The blog has kept me writing on a regular basis even when it's hard to find time to. The second biggest reason the blog was helpful was the dynamic blogs we had to write. They were always changing. I got to experiment with a lot of different styles and genres. Before this class I was usually pretty narrow in my writing, I stuck mostly to fantasy but the blog changed that. Now I've dabbled with poetry, short essays, style mimicry - all of which are vital for good writing.
6. My favorite assignment was easily the first essay I wrote, the personal essay. I had a lot of fun writing that essay. It had been a very very long time since I had written anything I had thought was so funny, even though others may not think that it is funny. From that essay, I decided that I will write for myself and not for others. If I write what I think is funny, I'll always laugh. If I write for other people to laugh, I won't think it's funny. That's what I learned.
7. My favorite part of the class was the writing exercises that we did during class. This got my creative juices flowing and got me in the mentality to write my class projects. I just like writing short little things that are either really descriptive or that fit my sense of humor and most of the creative writing exercises fell into either of those categories.
8. It is nice to see everything put together and to see where I've gone this semester. I like to see what I've done and what I'm capable of. It is also nice having to revise again without having length restrictions. It is strange having to write with the mentality of my work being bound. This makes me want my writing to be the best that it can be before I bind it together and finish the portfolio.
9. Like my portfolio, sending works to a public sphere makes you choose words carefully and make sure your writing is really polished. I don't want to look like an idiot for having blatant errors in my publicly submitted essays. Submission makes writing better I believe.
10. I would keep the work days for sure. I think they were very very beneficial for getting my essays done and I got most of my good ideas while writing there. It was also nice having you there while we wrote. I would get rid of the beginning of the library days where the aids just talked for about 40 minutes. I know this is a really strange thing to complain about, but it was very annoying having to waste time when I wanted to, and already knew how to, do research. I needed a lot of research but I had to listen to them explain how to put things into search bars. Obnoxious? Yes!
11. Good things take time. That's what I learned from these essays. I could try to just slop down some words and call it an essay, but it wouldn't be good. This work effort can apply in my career, in my mission, in everything I try this will be beneficial.
12. Good writing is the ability to draw in the reader with voice, humor, sensory details, and personal touch and style. These things keep writing interesting and not boring. A good example of this is, I think, the Sundering Trilogy by Richard A. Knaak. Even thought it's not an essay or even that famous a series, I love every page of it. I can contribute to this sphere by introducing my story into this sphere. My creative writing teacher says there are only two stories "someone new comes into town" and "someone leaves their home." I want to show my interpretation of these stories and hopefully it will be considered good. .
13. I really loved the class and I am glad that this was my first college English class. I have nothing but good things to say about this class.

Evaluation

1. What was most helpful to your development as a writer, reader, and thinker? Why?

I found the writing workshops most helpful for writing, reading, and thinking. It is hard to see your own mistakes when you write. I was able to get new ideas and new perspectives that helped improve my paper. I went through my papers again and revised them based on what my audience (my peers) thought was best. It involved thinking because I still had a choice whether to make the changes my classmates suggested or not. This made me analyze my choices and ask, “Why did they make that comment?” and “How can I change my writing to fit the suggestions they made while at the same time maintain the ideas and originality that I had?” It made me accept constructive criticism. Workshops helped me as a reader because I had to read closely to catch punctuation and grammar mistakes. I learned that reading a paper aloud allows one to comprehend sentence fluidity and clarity better.

2. What can you do to continue/improve this development? To continue with my development as a write, reader, and thinker I can always revise my work. There are many ways to revise. I will read my own paper aloud to hear things I need to change. I can ask my roommate to read my paper, similar to workshop, and give her opinions. I think the best thing to do is ask questions about the paper. Instead of confronting a friend or roommate and asking them to just read your paper and give their opinion, it is more useful to ask them specific questions about certain parts of the paper. When you ask specific questions they will usually give more specific answers.

3. What did you learn from the reading in this course? Which essay(s) did you enjoy the most? Why? What did it teach you about good writing? What I learned from the reading is that essays come in many different forms and use different styles but can be equally well written. I loved the essay about the moth because the writing was so detailed about an object, a moth, that people usually don’t notice. The author not only described the death of the moth but also universalized some of the ideas about death in general. I learned from this essay that you could write on almost any topic and be insightful. The other essay I enjoyed was “This is the Disturbing Part” by Stephen Church. It was humorous at the beginning and ended on a more serious and though-provoking note. I learned that I could be personal when I write and transition between different moods (such as humorous to serious) and still have my essay be well written.

4. Describe the writing process that you find most beneficial for you. Why does it work? How can it be improved? My favorite step of the writing process is workshop. But workshop is a subcategory of what writing process I find ore beneficial: revision. It is impossible to write a great essay the first time. An essay can always be revised more. It works because there are many different strategies to revise and each brings new insight and improves the essay. I could read it aloud and hear my mistakes, I write a conclusion to my essay again without looking at the original conclusion and then compare the two, or I could read the essay and take out all the passive tense words and see if the essay works. Revising can always be improved by more revising. It is a continual process.

5. How has the blog been beneficial to you as a writer and as a person? How? Why? I think the blog made me write to the best of my ability because I knew that my classmates would be reading it. This makes me want to improve my writing so that I can be proud to show it to other people and think of it as good writing and not just another assignment. So I reread my blog and revised it multiple times.

6. What was your favorite assignment of the semester? Why? My favorite assignment was analyzing an advertisement. I enjoyed looking for the advertisement. I am a logical thinker rather than a creative thinker. I thought this assignment allowed me to research, organize, and analyze in a coherent matter. It required skilled writing but not too much creativity.

7. What was your favorite part of class? Why? My favorite part of class was always the rush-writes because they were always very unique questions that made me think deeply. I enjoyed sharing what I wrote with the class and listening to what other people wrote. The rush-writes allowed me to write about anything I want and not have to worry about getting graded about it.

8. How is the final portfolio beneficial to you? How do you think differently about your writing because of it? I think I wrote a few good pieces of work that I want to keep. I am very proud of some of my work and by revising it and binding it nicely I can always have it. I thought about my writing differently because I can see me giving this to my mom possibly and I want to show her to be impressed and see how well I can write.

9. Why is submitting your work to a public audience (on the blog and to journals, etc.) beneficial? Submitting my work made me revise my work multiple times because I knew that if it were published many people would read it and judge it. I wanted my best work to be submitted because my name is attached to it. My work is a testament of my writing and ability.

10. If you were to take this class again, what would you want to change and what would you want to keep? I would not have library tutorials. They seemed like a waste of time and more of burden to get done on time. I did like the librarians coming in and showing us how to find sources. I would have the library tutorials in person, like a field trip. There can still be a quiz but it would not be as boring.

11. What did you learn in this class that you will apply to other situations? How? I thought that because I signed up as a Chemistry major that I would not need to know how to write well. But I have found myself needing to write formal letters to staff about questions I had. This required good punctuation and a certain professional tone. I think that everyone needs to learn the basics of grammar. I will use it every time I write an essay for a class or write a formal letter to an authority figure.

12. What makes good writing? Why? Give examples. How can you contribute to that sphere of good writing? My top five values that define good writing include personal, clarity, sentence variety, engaging, and memorable. I found that all of the readings we had for class included at least four of these values. It is important to uphold these because it benefits the audience. They are able to understand the ideas you wish to convey and they can enjoy it at the same time. I try to follow these values and am currently working to make my writing more person so it is engaging to the reader.

13. Anything else you need to get out about the class. I liked the class but I didn’t like the tardy policy because I often went to the wrong building and had to rush over to the computer lab or the classroom and was late. Other than that, the calss really strengthened my writing skills.

Final Questions

What was most helpful to your development as a writer, reader, and thinker? Why?
I would have to say work shopping was the most helpful. It was really interesting to see what a peer had to say about my writing that maybe I thought was good. It was also helpful to get negative feedback on the things that maybe I hadn't even noticed were really bad writing. Reading my peers papers also helped me to see what they did well, and the topics they wrote on sometimes opened my eyes to new ways of thinking. The critical reading was really hard for me because for some reason I am really bad a criticizing someone's work, but I had to force myself to see where the writing could be better and that also helped me to see where my own could be better.

What can you do to continue/improve this development?
In order to continue this development, I think I will need to continue to have others look at the work I do. At work, I can have my peers read the documents I draft. Also, I can continue to read others work in a critical way. Even in recreational reading, I can pick things that probably could be done better and do some critical reading.

What did you learn from the reading in this course? Which essay(s) did you enjoy the most? Why? What did it teach you about good writing?
I learned that there are a lot of different styles of writing that can be good. It just needs to be a consistent style throughout the whole piece. Also, it needs to be engaging. There were some readings that I had a hard time making it through because I had no interest. Good writing to me keeps me engaged through the entire thing. It also keeps me interested whether I know much about the topic or not. My favorite essay was Heart Sounds. I really enjoyed the emotion behind it, as well as the dose of reality that went along with it.

Describe the writing process that you find most beneficial for you. Why does it work? How can it be improved?
The writing process that I find most beneficial was free writing. Writing down my thoughts and seeing where it takes me. Then I would come back and organize and figure out what can be expanded and what can be deleted. It works because it helps me to base my paper on me, and starts out my paper with my own strong voice. The problem with it is I don't always have thoughts that flow really well when I am free writing on my topic, and sometimes my writing is forced. I could do a little bit of research before free writing to give myself a more clear objective.

How has the blog been beneficial to you as a writer and as a person? How? Why?
The blog has been beneficial because it seemed to me like a really relaxed place to put my writing. It was safe place to display my work and get some feedback. The positive comments helped me to build confidence in my writing. It helped me to find my style of writing. The style that works the best for me.

What was your favorite assignment of the semester? Why?
My favorite assignment of the semester was the Ruminative Essay. It may have been the topic I chose, but I really enjoyed putting myself into the essay and I was really happy with the final result. I think writing about something I felt passionate about was part of what made my paper turn out the way it did. I had fun writing it and that is what made if my favorite.

What was your favorite part of class? Why?
My favorite part of the class were some of the rush writes. It was fun sometimes to just see what I end up writing with a really quick prompt and only a few minutes. It was actually really hard for me, which means I probably need some more practice doing it. It was really interesting to hear what others came up with though. I really enjoyed hearing everyone's rush writes.

How is the final portfolio beneficial to you? How do you think differently about your writing because of it?
This is kind of a hard question since the final portfolio isn't done yet, but so far it is helpful because I am going back through my work and seeing how I have improved throughout the semester. I can make changes to the writing that just wasn't very good, and see the things I did that were good from the very beginning. At the beginning of the semester I didn't think my writing was very good at all, and I can see that some of it was. It wasn't anything fantastic, there were definitely a lot of flaws, but there were some good things as well.

Why is submitting your work to a public audience (on the blog and to journals, etc.) beneficial?
It was beneficial because it helped me to see how much different a paper has to be to submit rather than to turn in for an assignment. When I submit an essay it needs to be outstanding rather than just adequate. The flaws I see will be magnified in a literary journal, so I need to eliminate as many flaws as I can.

If you were to take this class again, what would you want to change and what would you want to keep?
This is a hard question. I really enjoyed the class as a whole. I felt like we kind of got thrown into writing for our first paper with very little instruction on what makes good writing, but I can see now that the timing was necessary in order to fit all three assignments in with enough time to work on each paper. I sometimes didn't enjoy the readings. Sometimes I felt like it was a lot of reading while I still needed to spend a couple of hours on my writing as well. I did enjoy the exposure to all sorts of writing though, so I definitely wouldn't want to get rid of the reading altogether.

What did you learn in this class that you will apply to other situations? How?
I learned that I need to be more specific in my writing. Even in business situations, using more descriptive words is better. No matter what situation I find myself in, using generalizations don't get my point across as well as I would like. Even in speaking, I can see that I need to use more specific words, and I need to work on that in my writing as well.

What makes good writing? Why? Give examples. How can you contribute to that sphere of good writing?
To me, good writing is something that can get me caught up in what I am reading and not think about my life. I like to read something that plays to me emotions. In one particular book I read, I was fully ashamed of what the main character did that I had dreams I was this horrible immoral person. That is good writing to me. I got completely wrapped up in it. For my writing, I feel like my best writing is on topics that really matter to me, and bring out my emotion. I just want others to feel the emotion in my writing as well.

Anything else you need to get out about the class.
I really enjoyed reading other students essays and blogs. There were a lot of really good writers in this class, and it was awesome to see.

Final Questions

1. 1. One of the things that was most helpful to me this semester was the workshop groups. I never really revised before this class and so I didn’t really know how to or what to fix. The workshop groups helped me to understand the importance of revision, to see ways to improve my essays, and to get help in areas I was stuck on. Another helpful thin was the blogs, they helped me to be more comfortable writing quickly and letting others read my pieces. At first I really did not like posting, but now I like it a little. I now enjoy reading essays and even writing them ( a little).

2. 2.To continue this development I am going to need to keep finding essays to read. I think by reading other people’s work you become a better writer yourself. It opens your eyes to different ways of writing and thinking. So, I will have to continue that. Also, I should keep writing. Even if it is just in my journal for myself. The only way to improve your writing skills is to keep on writing.

3. 3. From the reading this semester I learned about a whole new type of writing that I did not know about before. I learned that if you write about something with an interest and a reason behind writing it, the piece will be better. I learned you can make any structure and any topic work. One of my favorite essays was “Contributor’s Note” by Martone. I really enjoyed the way he wrote about himself in a new perspective, it was really original. I also really appreciated the humor he added. The essays that were humorous were always more enjoyable for me. It taught me that it is good to step outside of the box and try new styles.

4. 4.My writing process is to think a lot but not write anything down at first. Then write down the basics and get the organization right. I go back through and add in details, research, and such. Then revise, revise, revise. It works for me because if I don’t write everything down while I am thinking about it, I will forget. So I get my ideas down then go back and refine it to make it better and more meaningful. I could improve it by maybe having a more structured approach to writing.

5. 5. The blog has been beneficial to me because it has made me write every week. I don’t really enjoy writing that much, it kind of stresses me out. So the blog made me less stressed about it and just made me write. I found over time on the blog that the posts where I just wrote and didn’t worry about being perfect came out so much better than the posts that I fretted about for a long time. I guess you could say it boosted my confidence a little. Definitely put me outside of my comfort zone.

6. 6.My favorite assignment for this semester was the ruminative essay. I felt like this essay was the easiest to write once I got going. I was overwhelmed by the length requirement at first, but once I got into the groove of writing the ideas just kept coming. And the length came just fine. I had never written an essay like this one before and it was a fun, new experience. I felt like it showed how much I have grown over this semester. Again, it was another good confidence booster.

7. 7.My favorite (and least favorite) part of this class was the workshops. I’ve said it before, but I never revised before this class and never really felt like a good writer. So the first workshop was really stressful and scary for me, I was worried what all these other great writers would say about my work. But I found it really helpful to hear what others thought and how I could improve my essays. By our last workshop I enjoyed them, but was still worried about what everyone would say. So I love and hate workshops. Mostly hate, but I know they are really beneficial.

8. 8.The final portfolio is helping me to see that I have grown a lot over the semester. Looking at my first essay and blog post to my last essay and later blog posts, my writing has improved a lot. I have become more comfortable sharing my thoughts and expressing them in a well-written manner. It has been fun to read through everything while putting it all together. I think it will also be really neat to be able to look back at all the things I wrote when I was a freshman in college.

9. 9. Submitting my writing to a public audience is beneficial because it makes you more conscious about what exactly you are writing. I think a lot more about what I am trying to say if it is going to be read by the public. It is not beneficial because it makes me stressed out and I over analyze every word I write. But overall, I guess it is a good thing.

10. 10. If I were to take this class I would change how long some of the readings were. I am not a super lover of reading, so most of the time I just read the essays we were assigned to get them done so I could write a 3. When I didn’t feel like there was SO much to read I could enjoy the pieces a lot more. This is probably just an attitude thing that I should change, but it is the only criticism ti could think of. I would want to keep everything else!

11. 11. I think the thing that I learned in this class that will help me in other situations was the revision process and all the different revision practices that we did during class. Revision is a big key to my writing being good. So I can apply that to all of the papers that I will have to write throughout the rest of school. I also learned that writing can be enjoyable and not stressful, which might come in handy someday when I need a hobby or something.

12. 12.For me, good writing is engaging and has something to say. I think that is the most important factor of good writing. If the author is just writing with no point or interest it is so boring and just fluff. Also, it should be clear, organized, relevant, grammatically correct, imagery, and humor. Basically all of the things we’ve read this semester have most of these characteristics along with other things that make them good. I can contribute to this good writing by continuing to write for me and writing well. By making sure every paper I write is written well.

13. 13.I really enjoyed this class, even though it made me really frustrated a lot of times. I felt pretty inadequate at first but throughout the semester I figured out that I need to stop comparing myself and just write. Not that I did that all the time but I tried. So there you go. I really liked this class and will miss it!

Lilly Pyle