Reflection on you as a writer
I do not like writing. I am the type of guy who is better with numbers than language. But I knew that I will be writing more essays, letters, reports, etc in the future, that writing will not suddenly disappear in my life. Although I am not a good writer, I thought that challenging myself harder was the only way to improve my writing skills. So that is how I ended up taking this class – AP Literature and Composition. I am definitely not a flowery writer whose writing sounds like a piece of literature. I am rather straightforward in my writings, not letting space for any fancy literary skills. I carried on that trait this semester in AP Lit, while also improving on other areas. I now not only convey my ideas clearly across to the readers, but also take more risks as a writer.
This semester, I have learned what I was good at. For all this time, I thought I was a bad writer because I just couldn’t write like Angie Jo. I can’t describe how hopeless I felt when Mr. Longbotham read her essays in class last year. I remember he exclaimed “I don’t think I could’ve come up with a better essay than Angie Jo’s in that 40 minutes.” Her essay was beautiful and her writing clearly illuminated her main points. So I experimented with many different writings in my junior year which turned out to be a futile effort. However, in AP Literature, I feel like I found my identity as a writer. My writing often sounds unnatural and unrefined, but that is what defines me. Also, I found that I am good at conveying my thoughts to the readers. Instead of trying to come up with an elegant, beautiful thesis, I would use only a number of words to state my stance on the topic. For example, my thesis for paper one was “As for “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Gilman’s ultimate audience – Dr. Mitchell who came up with the controversial rest cure – contributes to the readers’ understanding of the purpose and the details in the short story.” My thesis is simple but straightforward and provides the necessary information for the readers. Every writers possess their own strengths and I realized the fact that I do not have to write a piece of literature to become a better writer.
As a writer, I had the opportunity to take more risks in first semester. As I read various novels, short stories, and poems, I often came up with eccentric analyzation of the literature and had the opportunity to express my thoughts in my essays and numerous wiki posts. For example, in Paper 2, I used little details in the passage that I chose to expand upon it and make a risky generalization. My first draft was not quite what Mrs. Brakyo wanted because my supporting arguments were too weak as I didn’t provide enough logical defense for my idea. However, in Paper 2 Revision, I focused more on supporting the concept that I had in mind, both within and out of the text. I did extra online research on dreams to support my main point that Connie was dreaming. Although it was really risky to use unnoticeable elements in the passage to write an essay about, I took the risk because I did believe there were enough clues and that the statement was truly logical. Moreover, I like my poems that I wrote for TicTacToe A and TicTacToe B. When we had a Skype call with Mr. Laraby, I asked him if he writes what comes into his mind or tries intentionally to compose complex poems and he told me that he normally writes what comes into his mind and that is what defines him. I totally agree with his philosophy in poetry and endorsed it into my own poems too. Both “The Failure of a Teenager” and “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” portray the world I perceive. Especially in “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, I directly challenge Wordsworth’s idea that daffodils are too beautiful that they bring peace into your mind. I took the risk of going against him and saying
“‘A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company’ he say,
but this cannot put me at rest,
for I still feel oppressed, repressed, suppressed…”
I believe that poetry is another way of expressing myself, which I clearly did in my response to “Daffodils”. Overall, taking many risks in writing essays and poems helped me as a writer because I had to persuade the readers more than I would normally to make them believe that my logic makes sense.
Taking AP English Literature class was also a risk on my part. Before class registration, I debated myself if I really wanted to risk my grades in the sake of improving my writing skills. However, looking back at the progress that I made, I feel that this class is definitely worth the time and effort that I put in. My writings became clearer. Also, by taking risks, I am now able to write in a more organized and well-structured way so that readers can easily follow through my logic. Yet, it will be a long way for me to enjoy writing essays…
This semester, I have learned what I was good at. For all this time, I thought I was a bad writer because I just couldn’t write like Angie Jo. I can’t describe how hopeless I felt when Mr. Longbotham read her essays in class last year. I remember he exclaimed “I don’t think I could’ve come up with a better essay than Angie Jo’s in that 40 minutes.” Her essay was beautiful and her writing clearly illuminated her main points. So I experimented with many different writings in my junior year which turned out to be a futile effort. However, in AP Literature, I feel like I found my identity as a writer. My writing often sounds unnatural and unrefined, but that is what defines me. Also, I found that I am good at conveying my thoughts to the readers. Instead of trying to come up with an elegant, beautiful thesis, I would use only a number of words to state my stance on the topic. For example, my thesis for paper one was “As for “The Yellow Wallpaper”, Charlotte Gilman’s ultimate audience – Dr. Mitchell who came up with the controversial rest cure – contributes to the readers’ understanding of the purpose and the details in the short story.” My thesis is simple but straightforward and provides the necessary information for the readers. Every writers possess their own strengths and I realized the fact that I do not have to write a piece of literature to become a better writer.
As a writer, I had the opportunity to take more risks in first semester. As I read various novels, short stories, and poems, I often came up with eccentric analyzation of the literature and had the opportunity to express my thoughts in my essays and numerous wiki posts. For example, in Paper 2, I used little details in the passage that I chose to expand upon it and make a risky generalization. My first draft was not quite what Mrs. Brakyo wanted because my supporting arguments were too weak as I didn’t provide enough logical defense for my idea. However, in Paper 2 Revision, I focused more on supporting the concept that I had in mind, both within and out of the text. I did extra online research on dreams to support my main point that Connie was dreaming. Although it was really risky to use unnoticeable elements in the passage to write an essay about, I took the risk because I did believe there were enough clues and that the statement was truly logical. Moreover, I like my poems that I wrote for TicTacToe A and TicTacToe B. When we had a Skype call with Mr. Laraby, I asked him if he writes what comes into his mind or tries intentionally to compose complex poems and he told me that he normally writes what comes into his mind and that is what defines him. I totally agree with his philosophy in poetry and endorsed it into my own poems too. Both “The Failure of a Teenager” and “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” portray the world I perceive. Especially in “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, I directly challenge Wordsworth’s idea that daffodils are too beautiful that they bring peace into your mind. I took the risk of going against him and saying
“‘A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company’ he say,
but this cannot put me at rest,
for I still feel oppressed, repressed, suppressed…”
I believe that poetry is another way of expressing myself, which I clearly did in my response to “Daffodils”. Overall, taking many risks in writing essays and poems helped me as a writer because I had to persuade the readers more than I would normally to make them believe that my logic makes sense.
Taking AP English Literature class was also a risk on my part. Before class registration, I debated myself if I really wanted to risk my grades in the sake of improving my writing skills. However, looking back at the progress that I made, I feel that this class is definitely worth the time and effort that I put in. My writings became clearer. Also, by taking risks, I am now able to write in a more organized and well-structured way so that readers can easily follow through my logic.
Joshonmics! 