Reflective Essay

In the beginning of this course I thought that I was not going to succeed in it because of the title. The things we wrote in this class had to be real and true. I knew I wrote well in the area of fiction because my imagination sprouts in all different directions, but writing about things that were true, and doing it creatively, seemed like it was not going to be an easy task. Now that I have taken this course I found that I write this material a lot more easy than I do in other English classes. I now have a process I go through when I am writing that helps me to go deeper than what is on the surface and everything flows a lot smoother. The conferences with the professor have helped as well. The fact that it is one on one gives both the teacher and the student a closer look into what he/she is trying to say and helps to bring it out as well as push the writer in the right direction by using the material they have already written, which feels great to know that you are writing the right things, now you just have to write them in the right way with your right hand.

            During this course the professor took us through numerous activities that brought us to another place that helped us be where we need to be in order for our writing to flow. One example she gave in class was for us to close our eyes and try to remember a place that we went to often when we were young. The next step was to walk around this place and try to remember any sounds we might have heard or smells that were familiar, and imagine some items that were in this place that can make the place appear to be more vivid. Then, were to try to remember the good things and/or the bad things that came with this place. Then we were to write about it. This helped to put me in a place I wouldn’t have gone by just writing if she said just write about a place you used to go to often when you were from the age 4-8. In other words sometimes you have to walk mentally to find things or to dig deeper. This is one of the processes I go through while writing; literally taking myself to that place. Another thing that has helped me a lot was reading journal entries aloud in class. Sometimes I would be stuck, or would think that my idea was not relevant to the subject matter, but by hearing other people’s entries, this helped me identify what I was doing well, right, and what I could do differently. One more thing I found useful, which is similar to reading aloud in class, are the blogs. By reading other people’s blog entries, we can see the use of other student’s ideas and how we can improve on our own. Also, the professor provided us with a text book that looked at things from an “I” perspective and an “eye” perspective. Initially I did not understand the difference, but now not only do I understand the difference but I can portray two different forms of Creative Non-fiction writing that before I did not know.

            By using the techniques that I have learned in class, my writing is more effective. I remember while talking in class the professor asked if I was the one that told most of the stories in the family during family functions, and I replied yes. Now I can do this and make my stories effective on paper.