Week 8 Reflections

I cannot believe that this semester is already halfway over. I have really been enjoying this class and I feel like it is such a nice break from some of my other classes because I get to just be myself and read/write what I choose. So far I have really liked the things that I have read/written. There have been a few weeks where I have been super busy and my stories have not been great, but there have also been weeks where I take a lot of time to make sure my stories reflect what I want them to. I have learned that my best writing occurs when I actively think about possible stories as I read the original story. If I think of different ways to change the story or add a character or manipulate the point of view and this helps me understand the story better and also get more creative. If I have a question about a story or my writing I mainly use the internet. If it's about a grammar question I simply google examples and try to match mine to that. If it is more serious and I cannot find the answer, then I will email Laura and she is extremely helpful. I have found from other writers that I want my writing to be more detailed, but not needing a ton of words to do this. I have a bad habit of feeling like I need a ton of descriptions and lots of sentences to explain one thing so I need to get better at using simpler descriptions that can still get the point across. In order to do this I need to pay more attention to the stories I read and see how they use their descriptions.

I have noticed a lot of people have little errors in their writing...misspelled words, grammar mistakes, etc. Some of this is from not rereading and some is just from lack of grammar knowledge. I know I do the same thing, especially if I don't read my story aloud to someone else. If I just read it aloud, I will still miss mistakes; I have to read it to another person in order to catch the bigger mistakes. I think I have been giving good feedback this semester. I try to read very carefully and give them encouraging advice. I think I could be better at giving more negative advice. Sometimes I do not feel like I am qualified to give writing advice since I am not the best writer so I need to get better at this.

Be Creative