Writing Reflection

• Explain one or more specific aspects of your writing that have improved this year. In this explanation, you must directly refer to at least two specific pieces of writing that you produced for this class. You may use any assignment, project, writing sample, draft, blog entry, etc. You should discuss the writing tips & strategies we studied, the processes & methods we used, the critiques & drafts we employed and the products we created (feel free to use these specific key terms to keep your reflection focused).

I hadn't noticed before, but my writing has greatly improved since the beginning of the year. It's extremely obvious when I read my writing. I looked at my earliest work of writing for this year, which was my American Icons project. There was a lot going on in that writing, and it didn't all connect well. My thoughts were scattered, and there was too much to actually fit on one page. Not only that, but my structure wasn't developed either. I had a couple places in my American Icons Project that mentioned certain books. Some of the titles were in italics, and some were underlined. It looks extremely unorganized, and the writing itself seems random. Everything made sense in my head, but now I realize that I didn't do well of making sure it made sense to the readers.

I had only gone through a few drafts with that writing, whereas my Ampersand article went through many drafts. It took me quite a few drafts to get my writing to the point where all my ideas flowed together, and it made sense to everyone. I'm very proud of how far I have come this year. At first, I didn't think I had changed much, but now that I'm actually looking at the difference, I can see how big it is.

In my Ampersand article, my writing has a well developed idea that concentrates on a certain topic, whereas my American Icons piece jumps all of the board and doesn't flow well. Another thing I noticed was that I pay more attention to my writing style as well (ex: I use italics for thoughts, or to represent a way someone says something). I learned how to punctuate with power and purpose, activate my verbs, watch my "ing's", and minimize sledgehammer words, and I've noticed that it gives my writing a level of consistency that makes it sound more developed and professional.

• Describe one specific goal for your future writing. Your explanation of your goal(s) must include some or all of the following: writing samples from this year, writing strategies you have used in the past, writing strategies or techniques you would like to develop, examples from authors you respect, etc.

I want to have my ideas be more developed in my writing, so it makes sense to everyone who reads it. I have accomplished this with my Ampersand draft, but it took a lot of effort, and I would like it to be easier so I can better understand how to communicate with the world. My American Icon project shows how mixed up my ideas get, and my Ampersand article shows that I can do much better. I want to practice using Concerts Not Pancakes more, just to see if I can actually do it with an entire piece of writing. I feel like that was the writing rule that I had been struggling to fit in throughout this year, but I haven't gotten much success with it in my writing.