Writing Refection

One of the first things that I had to overcome with my writing actually had to do with the subject I was writing about. I have always had an extremely hard time writing about myself. I always feel narcissistic when I write about myself, so I try to avoid it whenever possible.

When we were assigned the American Icons project, I quickly realized that I would have to get over that. I originally started off by writing a biography about my American icon, (Chris Thile) which wasn't the assignment. I had to constantly revise my essay, starting by slowly changing all sentences that said, "Chris Thile started playing the mandolin when..." to "I was inspired by how old Chris Thile was when he started playing the mandolin..."

To be honest, I still have a hard time writing about myself, but I while revising my work I figured out another way to write about myself without feeling conceded. I decided to envision myself as a character, rather than myself. I wrote about "Madison" as if I were a character in a story. This way, I didn't feel like I was talking about myself too much, so I didn't feel so awkward while writing.

Another thing that I had to work past this year was something that I have had problems with for years. I am terrible at writing endings for stories, essays, everything. No matter what I do, I always end my stories abruptly or strangely. I especially had problems while trying to end my Ampersand piece.

While writing my Ampersand piece, Buried by Work, I had a strong opening, moderate middle, and a complete dead-end of an end. I had to go all the way back to the loop, (which is when you re-visit the beginning of the writing during the end of it) in order to write my ending. My piece started where I was literally covered in piles of work, so I ended my story that way as well.

I feel that the loop has really helped me with my endings. I never thought that one writing tip would fix a life-long problem.

My biggest goal for my future writing would probably have to be really learning the meaning of "concerts, so pancakes". I will often write very strong openings to my writing pieces, but the rest of the piece will taper and eventually seem mediocre, (in my opinion at least). Because of the loop, my endings are now stronger than they had been, but the middle of my essays usually seems rather dull. I think that while it is important to have a strong opening, I need to work more on the body of my writing with in-depth revision and drafting.