Prompt 1: Detriments and Triumphs in My Writing Life

Emma Griffin
ENC 1102-0030
January 13, 2010
EmmaGriffin@Knights.ucf.edu
Detriments and Triumphs in My Writing Life
(600)
The only writings I perform on a normal basis are for some sort of class, whether it is English, History, or even Spanish. That might explain why most of the time, I do not care for writing essays. On the rare chance that I do enjoy it, the subject matter is of high interest to me. During my writing life there have been essays that I have been proud of, and some I have not. Personally, I do not feel comfortable when a teacher changes the format of an essay. For example, if I had been accustomed to writing essays in the third person, it would throw me off to write in first person suddenly. Furthermore, there have been writing skills that I feel I have mastered as well as ones I need help with.
When I start to write an essay, I go to my laptop and start typing away hoping the words will come flowing onto the screen. I have done this for most of my essays, and for a large majority of the time, it is successful. However, my most successful essays come from brainstorming ideas and prewriting on paper. My thoughts are then organized and come naturally. I try not to procrastinate, but sometime procrastination just happens for whatever reason. I enjoy finishing essays early since I get a feeling of accomplishment and relief. However, one might not understand the subject matter of the essay due to the teacher’s instructions, or lack thereof. I believe that how well you do in an English course, fully depends on the teacher or professor. If a teacher is engaging, interesting, and well-informed on the topic they are teaching, the student should succeed easily. My junior year English teacher insisted on writing the introduction paragraphs of our essays for us. This taught us nothing and the introductions were not even that well written.
The best essay I ever wrote was on a short story by Edgar Allan Poe called The Cask of Amontillado. The main reason I enjoyed writing the essay was that I fully enjoyed the story and the style used by Poe. Secondly, I was able to paradox two opposing settings in the story and use a multitude of detail. On the other hand, the worst essay I ever had to write was on “The Fountainhead” by Ayn Rand. My teacher wanted us to choose a character from the novel and put ourselves in their shoes. Not only did I dislike the book, I did not relate to the characters. It was boring for me as well as difficult since I did not fully understand the book.
Incorporating quotes into essays has always been my strong point. For this reason, I usually do well on research papers. I need improvement on little things that I easily skip over while proof reading. My revision process is not an effective one. Usually, I will just reread my paper two or three times and sometimes give it to a friend to look over. I realize that I need to better my revision method. There are many things I need to work on this semester as a writer. Prewriting is definitely a necessary tool for success. Another goal of mine is to avoid procrastinating writing essays. It is a much more fulfilling feeling to be done with your work. Although I cannot change if I like the subject matter or not, but as long as I understand it, a successful paper will usually come. Writing is not something I do all the time, but is a major part of my scholastic life.