nobody's perfect

Every writer has their struggles right? Well sometimes the most important thing is just knowing what they are. I have been giving some thought to mine and although I was already fairly aware of some problems in my writing, reassessing them has shed some new light on areas that could use some improvement. Here are three big ones:

1) Imagery- My writing comfort zone is more black and white. I prefer to write fact-based reports or historical, analytical papers rather than fantasy novels or fictional short stories about some made up character. I've grown up writing non-descriptive papers that restate the prompt and need to implement more details into my writing, as well as further develop my imagination and colorful writing.
2) Dialogue- The recent community crots we have been working on in class have really helped me make strides in my dialogue writing, but there is still work to be done! Being forced to write in that format has also made me realize how poor my imagination has been in this aspect in previous years. Hopefully I can continue to develop my skill in this area.
3) Syntax- Although I don't feel that this is a glaring hole in my papers, I would like to continue to develop my sentence structure. Its my desire to learn more and more ways to say things and organize the words in each sentence to find the perfect way to express the message I'm trying to convey.

room for improvement

Since I didn’t take ENC1101, I was unfamiliar with crots and workshopping, but over the last couple weeks I have begun to understand what is expected of me. Getting my first 2 drafts revised has helped me learn how to write a good crot. I’m very glad I was able to get a feel for what Kim is looking for through the drafts rather than turning in a paper that is not well formulated. Now that I have the concept of a crot down, I can continue to expand my imagination in writing new crots as well as refining the ones I have already written. I am continually improving and making strides in my crots.

By seeing how I can better improve my own crots, I have also begun to enhance my revising skills. Equipped with an increased comprehension of crots, my workshopping is also seeing improvements. Knowing the time and effort others have put into reading over my own work, I am making sure to put in the time and effort, on my own end, necessary to provide helpful insight, in the hope of helping my classmates in any way possible. For the most part, I have been very impressed and inspired from my group’s writings. They have shown great depth and detailed description. For the first draft I have left my comments and hope they were received well, ultimately enhancing the crots in the process. Reading my classmates crots has greatly helped me realize how my own crots should look and sound. Workshopping as a whole has been very helpful to me and I am looking forward to continuing them over the coming weeks.

As for my conference, other than the trip to the dungeon in Dodd, I found it to be very beneficial. Going over my draft with Kim was great. She really communicated clearly with me what her expectations were for the crots and what I could do personally to improve them. As we read through my work, I gained a great deal of insight and several key components to work on. Enhancing my description and detailed interactions as well as more in depth dialogue should go a long way in strengthening my final draft. Hopefully I can continue to make great strides on my paper and move closer to perfecting the final copy.

Overall I think the workshopping and revising has been very beneficial to me and I believe in the future it will reap positive results. Getting practical critiques complemented by encouraging reassurances has been very useful to me already in just the few weeks I’ve been writing these crots. With my classmates and Kim’s suggestions and criticisms my comprehension and cohesion have grown immensely. Taking and applying these things are helping me refine my writing at a much higher level. I also believe that by workshopping and reading over others’ works should help me when I read over my own work and hopefully correct some of the errors made or alter some things in order to enhance the paper as a whole. As my writing continues to improve, I look forward to continuing these workshops and conferences in the coming months.

you know guys

“I’m not gona lie dude, if a girl comes up to me tonight and starts making out with me, I’m not gona fight it. Only if she’s hot of course.” These were the words spoken by the tall, college-aged gentleman in front of me at the Linkin Park concert to what I would assume was his friend standing alongside him.

“I mean that will probably happen; you can never be too prepared,” was the sarcastic reply of his friend as he rolled his eyes and slid his hands back into his pockets.

“It’s the truth bro,” guy one responded picking up on the sarcasm but ignoring it by raising his eyebrows and playing along. “I’ll tell you something else. I’m a big fan of tattoos on chicks. Nothing hotter than a lower back tat on a babe. Also a big fan of the rib cage or ankle tats.”

“Really?” came the shocked response of guy two. His eyes squinted with surprise as he jerked his head to confirm the seriousness of his friend. “Tattoos are a major turn off for me with chicks; that, and short hair. I don’t know, I just feel like I want a girl to have perfect skin, free of blemish. I mean I know that’s not realistic but a tattoo just ruins that.”

“Agree with the short hair. That’s a big one for me too,” guy one affirmed by nodding and pointing his index finger towards guy two almost as if to legitimize his comment.

Guy two elaborated, “Way too many girls do it and I don’t understand why. Almost nobody can pull it off. I mean some girls look good in spite of short hair, but they would look better with longer hair for sure. If you’re hot, you’re hot. If you’re not, you’re not.”

“For real though. It’s always awkward when a friend cuts it short and everybody’s lying to her telling her they like it. Then you see it and you’re like ‘Oh, Denise, you cut your hair…’ –you hang there for forever, then you’re like- ‘What’s going on?’ She tries to act like she didn’t notice, but the damage was done bro. Damage was done.” Guy one replicated what I assumed would have been his body language during the actual conversation.

“Bro it was rough for real when Denise cut her hair. That junk looked dank,” guy 2 replied shaking his head in disgust. His face shrank in as if he had smelled something foul.

“Yeah but Denise has got a donk!” guy one responded, nodding his head as he said “donk.”

“Yeah but that’s about it though.”

“But it’s enough dog.”

“Not for me it’s not,” guy two authoritatively declared shaking his head in disapproval.

“I don’t know man…”

“Whatever dude. You can have her,” guy two said to finish the debate.

After a long silence, guy one steadily pounded his fist to his open hand and excitedly said, “This concert is gona be sick bro! I can’t freakin wait!”

“I know bro…I can’t believe we’re finally seeing them,” guy two replied with a big smile, shaking his head in disbelief.

“I’m gona get a beer and take a wiz. Save my spot.”

a new year, a new experience

Although I did not take ENC 1101, I took AP Language and Composition my junior year and AP Literature my senior year. I got a 3 on both AP final exams and the Lang test gave me credit for ENC 1101. A 4 on the Lit exam would have given me 1102 credit but unfortunately I came up just a bit short. However, I did gain a great deal of experience and learned a lot from those two courses during the last couple years of high school. AP Lang helped get me into reading more as we dove into classics like the Great Gatsby and Their Eyes Were Watching God as well as one of my personal favorites, The Kite Runner. Free reading book report assignments were given as well, reinforcing the importance of reading constantly. Additionally we covered several different types of essays and worked on developing the skills necessary to write them. AP Lit was very similar in structure to AP Lang, however the writing was less mechanical. Encouraged to write less analytically I was forced to extend myself. The experience showed me how much I enjoy writing when I sit down and actually do it. I have since found a passion for it and look forward to continually developing my writing in the future.

As for ENC 1102, I have heard mixed reviews. Many have told me it’s a very easy course, while others contrastingly say it requires a great deal of work and dedication. Based on what I’ve heard combined with the syllabus and what we’ve gone over in the first week, I feel that its not going to be an easy course, but as long as I am willing to work hard and stay on top of my assignments I should be able to find success in the class. Regardless of what I think about it, I realize by the end of the semester I am going to have put it a lot of time, effort, and work and have no doubt I will have learned a great deal.

I have high expectations for myself this semester, and ENC 1102 is no exception. My hope is that I will be able to continue to refine my writing skills and improve my overall diversity as a writer. As I continue to write papers for other classes and this one, I trust that this course will improve my writing ability in many ways. I also look forward to putting more color into my writing. The English language is a beautiful thing and does not need to always be maintained within the black and white boundaries college classes often require. Personally I know that I feel comfortable and safe within those boundaries and rarely allow myself to use my imagination. Hopefully through this course I will be able to let my mind open up more to writing the creative styles, techniques and ideas that I have so often limited myself to in the past. These things and more should ultimately lead to a great semester in this class.