English 2100: First-Year Writing

See, after reading Anton’s essay, I want mine to be somewhat as endowed as his. Unfortunately, I don’t have his type of inspiration. I do not have his type of skillful writing. I am supposed to write an essay as the type of writer I am. But that is where it gets more confusing for me.

How am I supposed to write a profile of myself as a writer? As a matter of fact, at what level of a writer am I? I definitely am not an accomplished writer such as Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, or as one of my favorite author, Khaled Hosseini. But I also definitely do not write at a 6^th grade level. But where am I as a writer. Yes, right now I am college student, so I must have written many papers before (at least I got something done right). I have done pretty well on my writing part of my SAT, not to forget getting 11 out of 12 on my essay. However, that still does not show what kind of writer I am. Maybe I should begin of how I actually feel about writing…

I don’t like writing. I do not hate it, but I don’t like it. Sounds crystal clear? No? Well people, I am a reader. Not a writer. I read the pearls writer get from diving deep into the blue ocean of their mind. I read the books of writers that can actually make me see the characters. Books that can actually make me feel I lived through the story. I read books and I love reading them. Not writing books, chapters, essays, or whatever. As a child, I was a book worm. I loved reading fictions, mystery, science fiction, history, and even biographies. But I never loved books so much that I might have actually written one myself. I did not enjoy it for some reason I can’t explain. I tried to see writing not as a task but as a pastime. It did not work. Most of my teachers believe I have written some wonderful paper. I just think they are average, probably because I have never actually been inspired to write these papers. Nothing significant ever happened in my life for me write something of how I really feel about an idea or situation. I write papers just to get the job done or just to get the grade.

Probably because I have never been actually inspired to write an essay, I started to dislike writing. I was always told to do it. This led me to just write some great history papers, but very bad personnel papers. Most of the time, I do not know what to write, even now as I am typing this essay. I don’t know how to create an image of myself as a writer. I don’t know what kind of writer I hope to be. Just give me a famous person or event and I will write you a great research paper. Well I guess that explain who I am now as a writer. Someone who can write a factual paper but also someone who can’t even write a paper to describe how he feels about an issue.

So finally it comes down to what type of writer I hope to be. I will make it simple. A writer that can actually finally achieve writing all type of papers. Not just historical or research paper. I actually want to become happy with what I have written. I want to be able to take a step back and admire my piece of work. That’s the type of writer I wish to be. I may not have been able to accomplish that in high school or anywhere else, but I do hope to finally be able to achieve writing a great personnel essay of describing myself so people can finally actually “see” me, not just read about me. (Watch my big mouth get myself into a whole lot of personnel essay writing).

As I look back on my educational background I tend to dwell on the fact that writing was never a major part of it. I never saw a time-slot available for it in my life, I would much rather pick a book, oppose to picking up a pen. In my perfect little world i could see myself writing in a beautifully rare leather bounded journal from the time I was able to say “ballpoint”, this sadly is not my reality. I steered away from every writing opportunity that became available and vouched to either read or often I chose other possible options, perhaps an apple for a teacher, sometimes even an Hermes scarf, just kidding!

I never opened myself to the fascinating world of writing and all the gifts it has proven to yield, I would, however, love to turn over a new sheet of paper, no pun intended, and become more susceptible to new opportunities and to work on my ideally flawless educational future. With my willingness and without a doubt help from a few other patrons along the way I will include a large time-slot of writing for fun and wrtting for my own simple well-being as a person and as a student.

I will evolve. I will learn.  And I will, finally, let myself do both of these things.

When it comes to essays, and papers it’s difficult for me to write because I tend to feel pressured to write well, instead of writing how I feel. But I love writing whatever is on my mind. If you ask any of my friends they will tell you about my away messages that are several paragraphs long. Also I keep notebooks where I write about any events, interesting things from my life, or just things I can’t get off of my mind. I have horrible memory, so writing is also a way I remember things. Also you will come to see that I tend to write the way I talk, that’s how I express myself.

My problem is that when I have to write for class I usually can’t figure out how to start, just getting started takes a while. My other problem is that I’m slow person, by that I mean that I eat slowly, and I write slowly, I just do things slowly. Another problem I have is that I’m a procrastinator, I’m trying to change but I always have a lot to do and so much on my mind. I can usually start a paper and get it done in a fair amount of time, but when it comes to more creative writings like writing poetry, I have a lot of trouble. I always feel like what ever I write is wrong, or bad, my teachers tell me it’s good but I don’t have confidence in my creative papers. I also have trouble with papers sometimes because even though I might know about the topic I’m writing about it’s hard to organize my thoughts into an essay.

 I think the way I could improve my papers, would be by giving myself more time to write them, by organizing better and having more confidence in them. I usually don’t like anyone but my teachers to read my papers, but I understand that to write better papers I need feedback from my peers, so I can fix my mistakes. 

Describing myself as anything is a very hard task. The idea of me as a writer I think is definitely an injustice to all the talent individuals out there who use that phrase. For most of my life I have considered writing a very strenuous task.I may even go has far as saying I fear writing.I believe that my fear of writing definitely stem from the fact that i’m not use-to expressing my thoughts via this form.Lack of practice is also a contributing factor.Many might think that an individual who isn’t a strong writing is just not creative or lacks an imagination, but it is quiet the opposite.My head is filled with ideas but the simple tasks of translating these ideas seems very hard.

My high school years didn’t do anything to streghten my writing ability .I loved my English class but whenever a writing assignment was given it felt like it was a complete burden.My English teacher often complimented me on my work, but honestly if she knew the staints I underwent to produce that paper I don’t think she would think I was such a good writer. Writing to me is just a given in anyone’s academic career.Just one of those things that you can’t avoid. I believe that I can become a good writer if i’m given the right help to enhance my writing skills.This I might add was never given to me during high school.Having a fear of writing doesn’t mean I’m not willing to learn .I’m will be willing to confront my fears if help is offered.English is always a very interesting subject and the streghtening of my writing skill will just make the class just a little more interesting for me.

I have been reading your posts with great interest; I find them inspiring and entertaining, laced with honesty and great little details that paint lovely pictures of who you are as writers, thinkers, students.  I’m happy to see so many of you mention good teachers who helped you become the writers you are today.  Your well composed profiles are a testament to those teachers.  Many of you write about wanting to be more creative, to write beyond the formulas we talked about in class last week that call for a basic intro with a thesis and an essay body with three pieces of evidence, which may be solid supports for the thesis but aren’t necessarily linked into an engaging and creative narrative of support.  This semester you’ll learn to write “outside the box” of the four square method, although you’ll hold onto the foundations of such methods: the thesis, the evidence, the paragraph structure you’ve learned—they’re all important.  But you will begin to experiment with ways to develop your writing, ways to use writing to clarify your thinking, and ways to make an assignment your own—that is, to own your writing as a unique, personalized representation of ideas that you authentically care about.

I look forward to speaking about your first blog posts in class tomorrow.  Please be sure to read one another’s posts (not an arduous task in the least!), and respond to one.  And thank you Anton for all your supportive commentary!

   As far as I can remember, writing has always been my foe, enemy, nemesis, and whatever other bad names you can think of to give it.  This subject would probably be the only subject to lower my G.P.A..  I remember always being a strong speller, and win all local spelling bees, but I couldn’t seem to find a way to piece those words together for a simple essay.  No matter what I do, whether it was changing styles, or going to the thesaurus I accomplished nothing but my plain style of writing. My parents would asked if I’m trying hard enough, but I would simply tell them that I think I’m trying a little too hard. By the way, just a little hint, I am a weak writer.

   My writing in High School did improve though when my teacher volunteered to help me if I agreed to put in the effort.  She would give me grammar worksheets which made me realize that I was quite the illiterate. What helped me the most was practicing my writing skills by experimenting with various topics. I was determined to improve at least by the time I graduated. It was a tough road I had ahead of me but I knew that it would pay off in the end of it all. I came to learn that the saying “practice makes perfect” comes in handy, especially when  it comes to writing and I.

    I believe that writing is like art and to make it better you have to be creative and understand that there is no perfect way to write. There is always room for  more improvement no matter how amazing of an essay you have already written. Asking for help is never out of the question, that was one of my stepping stones to becoming a better writer.

     Growing up I can basically say that my experience with writing was definitely a negative one. I faced many hardships in school because of my poor writing skills, but I have learned to become a complex writer. I cannot say that I love writing, but I can say that I now enjoy writing a lot more than I ever did before.

My  name is Danny Patsis and I’d like to take you on a journey through my life as a writer. Frankly, I never looked forward to writing four-page research papers and for the longest time, I had the habit of waiting until the last minute to start. Nevertheless, I always completed my assignments promptly. Once I picked up the pen I was never able to put it down until I was finished–the words always seemed to have just poured out of me. In the fourth grade I wrote my first story named “Kidnapping in Sheepshead Bay”. I wrote it passionately and, in turn, it was liked by the entire class. Furthermore, I was asked to do the honor of reading it to the principal.

This deed of merit was a great confidence booster. It motivated me even further to put my heart and soul into every word I wrote on paper. My high school teachers were great inspirations and kept my fire burning with unquenchable passion. Their challenging assignments kept me on my toes and made me be the best I can be as a writer. I wasn’t instantly gratified but I persevered and it wasn’t long before my writing skills were truly cultivated. It may seem quite ironic, but in sitting at my desk with just a pen and paper I learned more about myself and my potential as both a writer and a human being.   

Writing throughout my life has never seemed much of a hassle to me. I always remember my classmates in high school talking about an upcoming paper that was due and complaining about it all day long. However ever since I could remember, writing has been a school-related activity I have enjoyed doing. I would never go out of my way to write something, but for school it was never a problem. It might of been the fact that every English class I took up until the end of high school I never got below a 90, so I felt more comfortable in that subject that in any other.

I would say that in my junior year of high school I had a teacher that really improved my writing skills the most. Since we all took the SAT that year, writing was the main focus of that class. I always write stating my thesis at the beginning of the paragraph, always have at least three supporting bodies of good evidence and details to support my thesis, and a conclusion which restates my thesis and summarizes the three supporting bodies of the essay. This style of writing has basically been the best to use for myself, even under the timed essays during the SAT, and is what I use for the most part for every essay today. I also had the chance of writing my first term paper at the end of that year in which I had to gather my sources for the paper and list them on the bibliography page of my report. The term paper was the comparison between the epic poem “Beowulf” and Shakespeare’s “MacBeth”. I hope with this class I am taking now I learn to become more creative with my writing because that has always been my main problem.

I have always been rather wary of describing myself as anything. I have never really enjoyed the first week of school. There’s usually an assignment where you have to sum yourself up in so many words. It forces you to analyze yourself in such a way that I don’t feel illustrates anyone’s unique personality. More so, I am often told that I don’t write or speak in a public forum as I do when simply conversing with peers so there’s always this strange gap.

In terms of my writing, I believe I am a good writer. I have come from a pubic school system where early on the Four Square Method was drilled in. Once learning what was expected of me I delivered well organized, concise essays of the standard (rather monotonous) formula of introduction, three body paragraphs, and a conclusion which I tried to end like a newscaster might sign off. I always did rather well compared to my peers, which always made me wonder if I my writing was good or just the best out of the pack. It’s hard to improve and get realistic critiques when people think your writing is, arguably, the best in a large group.

In terms of favored writing I tend to lean towards my stronger subject, History. It’s not to difficult to choose any historical figure or event and analyze or compare it to another. Since history tends to repeat itself I found this easy; drawing connections, remembering trivial dates, and basically summarizing my knowledge of a given time period; in most history classes, a sure fire way to pass with a high grade. One of the reasons I did so well in this area was the unique ability to remain neutral and not get involved as the writer, which I had been taught for many years.

In my junior year however, an English teacher remarked on my style in class during review for the regents one day. He said “ Colvin’s Style is good because it’s what the grader wants to see, he tells you what he’s going to talk about in the intro. Then he analyzes those topics in his body, very clear.” I didn’t really take this as a compliment. The way in which he said it described my writing perfectly, but I really didn’t like that. “Very clear”, to me meant boring and predictable. I passed the English regents with a good score, but still felt uneasy with the way he said this. He seemed to being saying ‘this is how you can pass a test, but I don’t think its stellar writing’. Some might say this is an overly critical view of my own writing but I find it to something that’s worth taking a serious look at. You can imagine my nervousness when Professor Smith said that the Four Square Method, my method, wasn’t going to cut it on this level. It made me wonder if my other norms were up to par.

I tend to stay within the Four Square Method as a constructive base. Since gesticulation can’t be seen on paper I tend to as high a vocabulary as I think I can get away with without losing the reader through boredom, as well as using a rather abrasive style of writing. I tend to take the side that I feel I can argue the best (not necessarily the one I agree with) and, attack basically.

Also, and I’m not sure how much this affects my writing in the day and age of Microsoft Word, but I am not the best speller. I tend to misspell words out of carelessness rather than inability. Also I have been told and agree that I have horrible, horrible handwriting. So I would like to take this time to apologize in advance for anyone who’s going to have to read it.

I hope this gives a little bit of my background as well as my view of my writing style, if it can be referred to as such. I hope in the coming weeks I can become more comfortable writing in the first person and not giving an analysis from the outside looking in.

I was honestly never a fan of writing nor of reading written works. The last work I read was the Kite Runner, a book I highly enjoyed, and the last work i wrote was some high school paper I needed in order to graduate. So, as you can see I dislike writing, but I will try my best to complete a project in due time. As a writer, i would say I am more of those imaginative writers, meaning I love to write fictional stories and I am not drawn into nonfiction; its not my cup of coffee. I like experimenting with words and their usages to incorporate them into explaining the emotional status of a character or a certain scene instead of saying it bluntly. In my opinion, that’s cooler and that’s probably the reason why I am more drawn into fictional books, which use modern techniques and languages instead of ranting on forever like nonfictions. Also, when I was younger I used to write tales about witches, wizards, and other fictional characters and their problems. I was really into that “harry potter” phenemenon, however, as i got older i withdrew from that subject.              

Anyways, just because I am not a fan of writing, it doesnt mean I wont set a goal nor try my best. Hopefully, I will become a better writer and accept written works more into my life instead of ignoring them. Writing, in my perspective, is signifcant as it’s a freedom many people don’t have in various countries and I want to use that realization to incorporate writing more into my life.

HAVE A GOOD DAY :))))

Though years of English and writing classes have taught most students that writing was a form of work, I have always considered it to be the most creative way of visually expressing one’s personality. As a child I had a great imagination and saw writing as a useful tool in creating extensions to many of my favorite television shows and movies. In high school I paid close attention to my teacher’s lessons in their style of proper writing procedures. As years past I continued my attempt of writing on a proper and mature level and the searched for my very own style. It wasn’t until my senior year that I truly enjoyed English class. My teacher , Mr. McDonough, was the most fascinating English teacher I have ever had. His unique approach in essay writing along with his ingenious methods of coordinating sentences that truly made a thesis stand out helped me hone my own particular writing style and enhance my abilities as a writer.               

The paper I consider to be my favorite was my final exam essay which compared the Anglo-Saxon values portrayed in the epic “Beowulf” to the ethics and values of modern times. My experience in writing this paper was enjoyable and interesting. As it was my final essay, I pushed my writing ability in order to produce my “best” paper. My vast imagination and comprehension of the subject assisted me in creating an essay that was both understandable and enjoyable to the reader and myself. Apart from essays, I also enjoy writing poems and lyrics for songs. I find writing for leisure fun and creative. Overall, my experience in writing has opened my mind to explore numerous writing styles and has helped me express my love for creativity and exploit my imagination to its full capacity. I can only hope that my future in this college English course can expand my knowledge and style of writing.

Writing is more of a hobby to me rather than something i would want to pursue in. I would never see myself, in a million years, becoming a professional writer. It never stumbled upon me to visit the library and read books. I was never too fond of reading but I do, ironically, like to write a lot which I find to be quite weird how they fit in together. I enjoy writing on a blog similar to this called Xanga except I usually make my posts private. On Xanga, I can freely express myself and there is no limit or restraints to what I write. My work is then considered efficient and potent.
Writing for school papers, on the other hand, have always been problematic and stressful for me. I have this bad habit of constantly revising my writing because I’m never satisfied with it. Sometimes I wind up modifying my entire paper. I guess you can say I’m a perfectionist and I want my writing to be perfect and “A” material. Then again, doesn’t everyone want that A? Sometimes I’d even have a thesaurus beside me so I can make my writing sound more sophisticated. I guess it mainly has to do with the fact that I care too much about what others think of me. Writing IS the door to defining what kind of writer you may be. Writing for school assignments can be distressing at times. On a school assignment, I have a time limit; therefore, the quality of my work is limited because I’m more eager to finishing the essay than putting effort into it. If the essay is abstruse, then my essay lacks even more quality because it’s rushed.
There are, of course, plenty of times where I enjoyed writing a paper for school because the topic fits my interest. I’d have a lot more to say and my work will be more valuable compared to a topic I am unfamiliar with. My mind would be filled with all these amazing ideas and thoughts that I’d jot down instantly because I have a horrible memory. I am more comfortable writing down what i have in mind than reciting it aloud. Public speaking is definitely not my strong point but my biggest weakness, which i hope to work on in the near future. Grammar can be questionable, but it’s a common mistake for many.
Tracing back to about a year ago, I had an awesome English teacher who was very clever and encouraging. She was amazed by my writing skills that she even made a copy of my essay as an example for the class. I was quite embarrassed at first because I’m very harsh on my own work and I’d never thought my writing was rewarding. [You are your own critic.] Ever since then, I was more motivated to write because she showed me that I can write an acceptable paper. She gave me that extra boost of confidence that I needed, which helped a long way. I hope that with your greater knowledge, you’d be able to help my writing improve as well. After all, one’s work always have room for improvements.

Over the years I have developed as a writer, not only have my skills at writing an essay increased but my creativity became more present in what I wrote. I enjoy writing in various formats, in high school I took a creative writing class and spent a large amount of my time writing an epic poem, which consisted of 1000 lines. Poetry is one of my favorite outlets for my creativity as well as lyrics, when writing a poem or a lyric my thoughts seem to flow more easily than when writing such things as an essay. It is possible that I don’t give 100% when writing essays that are due in a short period of time, I sometimes feel restrained and when under pressure my creativity hardly comes out. Growing up music was a vital part of my life, and at times I used it as an escape from any problems that I had. I acquired a deep love for music and especially writing lyrics to songs. I often find it easier to write down my feelings and opinions instead of writing purely about facts. I enjoy writing lyrics because there is no set format and sky is limit when it comes to ideas.
In High school I took classes on writing college admissions essays, and the classes helped me to become a better writer as far as writing about the person I am. In literature I had to write essays about the books I had read, I learned a technique that made it easier to write such an essay. I would take post-its, and while reading the book I would stick one on a page that contained characterization, themes, style, or anything interesting. When it came time for writing the essay I had more than enough references to validate my statements. High school helped me to develop some of the skills that are needed for being a writer.
Though I have developed as a writer I still feel I have a lot more to learn. When writing, I sometimes experiment with language by adding a new word that I learned or maybe even a new phrase, which may make me sound like something I ‘m not. Not all writing interests me; I find difficulty in writing screenplays and research papers. In my essays I sometimes worry whether the reader will maintain interest all the way through, and I have a habit of making things more difficult to understand by going into long explanations. I rarely miss the topic, but sometimes I tend to get off topic in certain parts of my essay writing. My goal is to become a better writer in the fields I feel I don’t always succeed in, and come to a point where I’m comfortable with what I write.

Writing for me has always been a struggle. I never managed to express my thoughts and feelings onto paper. Writing and I just never went quite well together. To tell you the truth I never saw my self as a writer or as anything. I would just go rambling about how life sucks and how I suck at life. But we all know that rambling never makes up a good essay. So before I go on explaining my self as a writer, let me first begin by first introducing my self, the writer.

I was never a person who liked to read or write. I was born and raised in America but was put into ESL when I was in first grade. Embarrassing I know. I liked to draw I was never a number person or a letter person. I know what your thinking “she’s Asian and she hates math?!” That stereotype stating that all Asians are good and love math is very mistaken and I stand as living proof. Okay, enough about math. I’ll get straight to the point. I never gave thought into my writing and simply saw all my writing assignments as just, assignments nothing else. Writing and I never clashed until my second to last year of high school. Junior year.

Throughout my high school years, I was always that one student sitting all the way in the back corner with nothing to say but with a million ideas and thoughts floating in her mind. Therefore teachers never knew my name or bothered to care. This went on relatively for a few years when I landed on this one teacher. Mr. Macklin was his name. He was the reason why my attitude towards writing changed in just one semester. I was a sophomore and junior year was coming up, the year of SAT’s and serious cramming. I was well aware that I needed to do my best and stop sleeping in class. One day an unfamiliar face walked into my English class. He was short, had a mustache and reminded me much of Mario, you know from the game Mario and Luigi. Well anyways, his name was Mr. Macklin. He was telling the class about his college now class that was starting next semester open for all juniors. It was a writing 101 class and at that time my dislike for writing still lingered. But I knew that this was my last year to do anything possible to help me throughout the rest of high school. So I decided to give it a shot. You know, how hard can it be?

Unsurprisingly I never participated in class and never thought to do so. We always had this session during the first five minutes of class where we would write pages and pages of just thoughts that we had in out mind. It didn’t necessarily have to make sense. Heck, we could have just sat there doodling. From there I learned how to express my thoughts onto paper, and how to organize my thoughts as well. We would go into groups and share what we have written in class about a certain topic then make comments on them. Mr. Macklin went around reading only a handful of peoples writing. And me being the luckiest person in the world had to be part of that handful of students. He read what I have written and was not happy about it. What he said was so harsh that it gave me encouragement to write even more. I had the urge to show him what I was capable of. I left high school with a growing passion to improve my writing

It is for these reasons why I enjoy writing even with the few writers’ blocks that I may encounter, I just give it some time and the ideas start to flow in my mind. It is still hard for me to express these ideas onto paper. But I believe I’m getting there, gradually, but getting there. I do worry about grammar which is probably the reason why I’m constantly reading my essays over and over, paranoid that I might make some silly mistakes. The writer that I was and the writer that I have become have differed in so many ways possible. I truly believe that I will grow stronger as a writer and this class will help me greatly along the way.

Before entering high school, I had never really given much thought to writing.  Sure I was given extensive practice in the writing field through my grammar school, as well as my middle school years, but I always looked at writing as just another school task.  With essays accounting for a large percentage of exam grades, I increasingly focused on writing and transformed my previous habits/notions upon settling in at Moore Catholic High School.   

After completing countless writing assignments and exercises, both in and out of school, I noticed that writing had become one of my strengths.  I found myself perfecting elaborate essays and accumulating many of the writing points in the aforementioned exams.  It is my suspicion that I always had the ability to write, but I simply intensified that ability during my high school years.  However there are some extenuating circumstances that come along with this evolved ability. 

Despite my increased focus on writing in the past few years, I still don’t necessarily like writing.  I always tolerate it but the only time that I don’t mind the writing too much is when it is a factual piece.  It is my opinion that writing a specific work based on facts is significantly easier than writing something that relies on opinion (such as this very blog assignment).  To be completely honest, I hate writing like this; using past experiences and formulating opinions based on those experiences.  An essay that focuses on fact, such as the history of a war or facts about a certain civilization, would be relatively simple for me (providing that I have knowledge in those particular areas of course).  With a factual essay I am able to elaborate on the facts and upon finishing, I discover that I have assembled an intricate piece of work that I am very proud of.  It is when I am required to write something of the nature of this blog that I find myself absolutely dreading the assignment. 

Regardless of the type of assignment that I am presented with, I have acquired a slew of writing characteristics and mannerisms.  For example, I do worry about grammar and spelling and I try to adhere to the English language to obtain a smooth and “easy to read” piece of writing.  Also, I usually have no problem translating my ideas onto paper, but do sometimes experience minor blocks; nothing out of the ordinary.  Overall, I believe that I have utilized my writing tools and sharpened my skills to secure my role as one stupendous writer.   

Well after reading Antons’ post i feel inadequate to say the least. However I am going to try to write this profile of my writing skills and hopefully get my points across to you the reader. I’m not sure how long this has to be because in classs I was under the impression it should be one or two paragraphs and now I see Anton wrote an entire essay. So I am going to write untill I feel I have answered the question presented to us.

I have been writing since I can remember back when I was a wee little lad. I remember writing little storys here and there in elementary and junior high school. I didn’t start to enjoy school until I went into high school. In highschool I would have to write a lot about yself and my life experiences. I realized writing about myself was the type of writing i liked the most. It allowed me to express myself and not hold back. I was able to write about my life and my views and get my views across to other people in a coherent manner. I find that analyzing my life through my writing helps me get through certain tough times in my life. It also allows me to see how I am progressing as a writer.
In college I hope to improve my writing skills. As you can probably tell I have very poor grammar, good grammar is essential to good writing. I believe becoming a better writter will help me in the business world because people will take a good writer more seriously then a poor writer.I really hope that this course will allow me to improve my writing and make my writing style much more professional.

Write a profile of yourself as a writer? Well, that’s an interesting topic for a blog. I believe that when one reads what it is that someone else wrote they will be able to judge exactly what kind of writer he or she is. A person’s diction, their observation of the rules of grammar; everything that makes them a writer is displayed most truly in their blogs (or diaries). A report is one thing but when there is no force commanding a person to write they can let their ideas flow without fear of ridicule or judgment. While this is technically an assignment I don’t see it as such. I’ve been spilling my thoughts on blogs for ages and so this is much easier than, say, writing a 4 page analysis on why Raskolnikov isn’t a tragic hero. I was just interrupted by my friend who asked me for someone’s email. Let me begin by stating this about myself as a writer: I hate being interrupted-my train of thought crashes.

I have been writing for years. I have written umpteen essays, countless stories, and an immeasurable amount of blog posts. I entered the United States with a blank slate for a head. When I took my seat in my first American classroom I was overcome with grief at the fact that I didn’t know a word of English (that’s a lie. I knew “hello”). After about a year my English developed rather quickly and finally in third grade I was informed by my teacher that I wasn’t a very good writer. So, needless to say, I was distraught. My mother visited my teacher during conferences that were indescribably boring to hear how I was progressing. My teacher’s youngest daughter was in the room fidgeting with obvious discomfort at the idea of being cooped up in a classroom all day with her mother. My teacher recommended to my mother that we hire tutor and have me watch Sesame Street (”Rebecca! What channel is Sesame Street on?”) in order to help my English. I didn’t think my language was that bad but apparently it wasn’t up to par.

Allow me to skip ahead a few years. After the tutor, beyond my first reports, past my mini-book on alligators, my writing has evolved and developed dramatically. I was able to understand language that children my age shouldn’t even be aware of. I was questioned time and time again from where it was that I copied my reports. I was insulted and defended myself to no end.
“I didn’t copy it!” I would say
“Then what does this word mean?” Would follow, seeing as my teacher obviously didn’t believe I read anything other than Dr. Seuss.
Long story short, I was insulted numerous times but that’s mainly because my pride was a little higher than that of your average elementary school student. Despite the interrogations I still maintained that I was a good writer and would sometimes open up a dictionary to see what new words I could learn (Yes, yes, I’m a loser).

Presently, I enjoy writing. I have had a great amount of time to collect words and ideas and always find it interesting to incorporate esoteric themes just to see if the teacher could understand what on earth I was talking about. I have written very unorthodox pieces of work for my teachers in high school. Aside from the reports and essays that I was to hand in I kept a different level of connection between myself and my teachers through writing. One time stands out in my mind, especially. When one of my teachers assigned an essay on a book we read over the summer I gave him an essay twice as long as was required defending my stance that the book chosen by the school was nonsense, wouldn’t help my education in the least and then I pointed out numerous problems within the school itself. This “report” resulted in extra credit. Another rather interesting moment in my life was when I typed up a 4 page essay for my Sociology teacher explaining why I didn’t like him or his class. At the end of the year I left with a 98 on his final, a 99 in his class and he now stands as one of the most influential people in my life.

As you may have probably been able to understand, my work does not thrive in an environment which forces me write. I, of course, can pull off a 10 page report analyzing love in Shakespeare’s plays but I would not put as much care into it as I would in something I write for myself. I call my papers and reports, despite their overall high grades, “bullshit.” Sometimes I enjoy writing them and in those cases they have a higher quality than other, more tedious assignments. Nevertheless, my best work is published on my personal blog, shared with only one other person. I decided to copy and paste one of my posts on said blog into Microsoft word and found it to be 5 pages long. It was incredibly easy to write, it flowed well and then voilá! An essay was developed, unconsciously.

In general I write best when I am influenced. Usually my influence is music and when I find a very nice piece I loop it until I finish whatever I am writing at the time. The song usually loops dozens of times and this may make some people disgusted but I find myself more connected to that particular song when i finish writing. Sometimes my influence is closer to me. In my senior year of high school I became slightly reckless; I became more “martyr”-like. One of the deans in the school labeled me with that word after I questioned a teacher’s methods continuously throughout the year. From wearing derogatory t-shirts in his classroom and insulting him openly to collecting written complaints from his students; I was creating a full blown Biology coup d’état. Of course, I only allowed myself this privilege because I easily aced any work he gave the class. This situation was only caused by the fact that I was never so infuriated by a single human being in my life. I’ve never done such things before and do not intend to any time soon. Needless to say, I wrote a ridiculous amount during that semester. I wrote about equality and privilege; I wrote about kindness and understanding; I wrote about mental capacity and the power of anger. All of these pieces were pages long and read by only one person. This person is one of my closest friends, the reader who has access to my personal blog and the young woman with a incredible average; currently attending Vassar.

I believe I made it clear that I am a writer. Now, onto my foibles! I am a terrible speller! Aided, obviously, by spell-check I really never get to develop my own skills in this matter. You wouldn’t believe how long it took me to remember the concept of “i before e.” Secondly, my grammar skills are atrocious. I’m not even sure where to stick semi-colons, despite my using them consistently throughout this blog. In addition, the correct use of commas eludes me. I also find that I ramble to ridiculous proportions. I assume I like writing when there is no restraint or limit. Bad, Anton! Finally, I believe my biggest flaw is my inability to chop up sentences. I am always told my sentences are run-on but I never see them as such. I leave my work filled with incredibly extensive ideas. Is this truly a problem? I feel that I have no reason to break apart such sentences because they are one long thought coming from my mind and severing it to make it grammatically correct is an insult to the contemplation itself.

I always wanted to become a writer. I intended to minor in English. I truly need guidance and assistance to hone my writing. I want to perfect my writing and I want to be skilled in this art. This may seem like an unnecessary goal but I feel that if I could only write my papers using those 13 points of an essay I can become great. There are these authors who are hailed and praised for their styles; Hemingway, Faulkner, Maupassant. It may seem stupid but I wish to become like them. I want to feel fulfilled. Each piece of writing I pull from my brain always seems to be lacking something. I don’t care that my grade for that piece is 100. I don’t think it’s my full ability. I need extensive help and I believe that the only people who can direct me are professors with such skill and knowledge that I long for. Professor Smith, I implore you to guide me lest my idiosyncrasies lead to my downfall.

P.S. I wonder how many times I used the word “write” in this post. I am very sorry for the length.