I have never been confident in my ability to write. Everything about writing makes me anxious. Wondering whether it's to short or to long because I end up rambling on about something that ends up off topic from the subject. Making sure there is some sort of logical structure in my writing rather than a bunch of ideas separated by punctuations. And if it is hand written grammar errors become a nightmare for me. I can read my paper over a thousand times and still miss simple mistakes such as using the wrong there/their/they're or just forgetting a letter in a word. The toughest part about writing that gives me the most anxiety is making sure I meet the deadline. This is due to the fact that I procrastinate a lot, but when it comes to crunch time I tell myself to either get it done so it can be turned in on time or actually write what I really want to write but run out of time and end up leaving things I wanted to say in my mind rather than my paper. I normally pick the get it done decision and get a good enough grade on my paper, even though I could've done better.
Throughout my time in school I've been able to scrap up just enough to get by my English class with relatively good grades, which in the end of is what it comes down to for me. Since I have been getting by I never felt the need to improve or get help with my writing skills, even though I know they aren't great. When you know you aren't excelling in something you tend to rush it and do the bare minimum to pass because you just want it to be over with. If I could get pass everything that makes me anxious about writing I might actually enjoy it.
I completely understand how you feel about being anxious while writing, worrying about every meticulous little detail. My worst problem was worrying if what I was writing about sounded “weird” and I would stare at my blank screen for hours. As far as the grammar goes you can always correct your paper and have a peer look over it for any grammatical errors. The important thing is to write though, get your ideas typed out and then revise, revise, and again revise. I really liked that in class we are being taught to have multiple drafts, it makes me feel confident in my end product. As far as deadlines go, make sure you stay on top of everything. I find it helpful to have sticky notes posted to serve as a reminder to me about what I have coming up. Its always best to start early rather than late.
ReplyDeleteI definitely know how you feel about procrastinating! Like you, I have procrastinated my entire high school career and did just enough to get a low A in all my classes. I decided that in college, I would have to put my procrastination to a stop. I decided to start doing my homework/studying the day I was assigned it and so far it has worked out pretty well. Even though I know I probably could procrastinate my work until a few days before, I realized if I truly wanted to succeed, my procrastinating tendencies would have to stop.
ReplyDeleteMy blog post was very similar to this one. I completely see where you're coming from with the whole "procrastination" and "turning in" thing. How everything sounds has to be "perfect" especially now when everyone is reading each other's work. What I do is split up my work equally for about a week and do a little at a time. It helps with time management of the piece. Being creative also is okay therefore you're completely fine with writing whatever you want to, everyone makes mistakes.
ReplyDeleteI related to a lot of what you said as far as procrastination goes i use to be awful but what i got myself to do is as soon as writing was assigned i wold start it. Maybe not get quite half way or finish it but still write some. That way i had the idea started in my head and on paper so even if i ended up getting busy and waiting till the last minute i had less to do! This would also help with being anxious. If you just take a running start and dive into it you can always go back and fix little details later! Thts the beauty of starting ahead of schedule
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