Blog #2

I write because it is mandatory.  Throughout elementary school, middle school, and high school the idea was imbedded into my brain that writing is one of the most important skills to have.  Unfortunately, I never was able to enjoy writing as much as the person next to me.  According to many people writing is form of expression, a form of expression that I was not good at.  Fortunately you can express yourself in many different ways so, when I want to express myself I always gravitate towards a more visual form of expression like drawing.  I draw many things but my main style of drawing is cartoons.  I love drawing characters because to me they are hilarious and it is through those hilarious drawings that you see my personality.  So before I start a writing I assignment I often draw to get my creative juices flowing.  A style of writing that I often write in after I draw is Satire, a tremendously entertaining way of writing where you have the freedom to exaggerate your story in anyway you choose.  I also like to express myself through music.  Music is a great way to convey how you are feeling according to what genera you are listening to or in what style you play your instrument in.  Listing or playing music before I write is another great tool to inspire me to write.  So as I grow older and learn many different techniques to inspire myself to write I no longer write because it is mandatory, but instead write because it is another form of expression.

Blog Post #2 - Ashley Shaw

For me writing is like a form of torture. I'm not good at it because I criticize my work until I give up and don't want to do it any more. But it's also like an escape from the world. When I write for me and just put what I'm feeling down on paper it helps me get out a lot of the pain and hurt and frustration I keep bottled inside of me. I'm not really sure what this says about me as a writer. Maybe that if given the opportunity to write what I want and not just for assignments I might be good at it. Maybe it says that since I can find a refuge in something I also think of as a prison that my life is a complicated mess of right and wrong, of good and bad. When I write all of my feelings down I jump from one thing to the next never really having any order or balance to it, you can't do that with assignments. When you're writing for class you have to have order and make it flow and make sense, but with all the ideas that flood my brain every second of everyday it's hard to make it all make sense. That's why I prefer reading instead. When I read something I can get so caught up in that world that I forget about my own. I'll forget about the pain and the hurt and the loss that I deal with on a daily basis and I'll just be caught up in the character's life. Like when I read The Fault In Our Stars for the first time, that book isn't hard to read so you sit down and start reading and then before you know it two hours have gone by, and you're so swept up in it that you can't stop reading. If I were to write for other people to read, that's what I'd want to do. Grab their attention and make it so that they don't want to put the book down.

Blog #2 - Serena Cecere

Writing to me is a way to be courageous.  It's a way for me to express the thoughts I'm too weak to speak.   It's a way I can access the depths of who I am, and attempt to communicate it with the world.  It's a way I can organize my thoughts, even if that means into a rambling mess. It's a way I vent about all the good and the bad, the highs and the lows. It's a way I can try to get a look into my mind, the way I think, the way I analyze things, the way my brain change thoughts faster than i even realize I'm thinking them. And for the way I can try to understand why I think the things I do.  It's a way I can piece together different parts of myself and access the different personalities and voices I have.  It's a way I can come to terms with who I am, and learn to be proud of that girl.
This is probably why writing has never seemed to bother me all that much. I enjoy it.  I enjoy being able to say things on paper that I wouldn't have the confidence to say in person.  I enjoy getting connected with the depths of my mind and my heart and my thoughts.  I think that's why in High School i felt i would end up writing more passionately than my classmates. Due to family circumstances I was forced to grow up a lot sooner than most and that's made me look at a lot of things people normally take for granted, in a different perspective.  So when I write, I write with meaning and passion and with a focus. Although you might find that harder to believe with this piece because to be completely honest, i feel like I'm just rambling.  But that's okay, because to me, that's the beauty of writing. You're allowed to ramble and vent.  And that for me is what writing is all about. Being able to express yourself freely.

Blog #1 Aaron Mazyck

     More often than not my writing consists of run-on sentences, incomplete thoughts, and a total lack of organization. When i attempt to write I normally fail to acknowledge any mechanics or other important writing techniques because I am too worried about getting words on the page (or screen). But as soon as I am asked to write about my feelings towards writing I suddenly have a small countries worth of words to say. I usually fail at coming up with a viable thought or idea, I just close the computer and return to the exciting universe of television. After re-reading the topic or prompt about 50 times I finally return to the computer with the image of "at least 4 pages" circling my brain. Then the deep frustration begins after a strenuous hour of writing only to realize I am only half way through the first page. When I bring others into the situation I it just becomes sad,  to the point where i will aggressively ask my parents not to read my writing aloud because I can not bare to listen to it. I am worried it will be viewed as elementary, or a lack of understanding.
     Worrying about not getting enough words on the page is directly associated with my reluctance to share my writing. Since I am so worried about volume i feel that the quality is poor therefore before i even begin to proof read the paper it is already in my mind that the paper is terrible. Then when i begin to spot minor faults I just dig deeper and deeper into how horrible the paper is. Thus far my only strategy has been to write until there is so much frustration, that i begin to break things until I am calm enough to continue writing.
   

Blog #1 Jan Stary

People have different fortes. Writing comes very naturally to some people where writing a 1000-word paper is a breeze while others may struggle with the subject. I feel as if I am right in the middle of the two extremes. I am not very worried about writing, but then again, I'm not very excited for it either. I consider myself the average writer -- if there is such a thing. In my experiences, grammar is a fairly easy subject to learn and understand - all it is is the ability to form sentences correctly (of course I make mistakes here and there). The area in which I lack strength is vocabulary. I feel that my vocabulary could use some fortification which would overall help determine my writing style and assist me in establishing a voice for my pieces of writing.

Back in high school, I became a very successful procrastinator. I would always wait for the last morning before a paper was due to write it, and quite frankly, I was very good at it. My writing pieces were always turned in on time and I had no trouble meeting the requirements so I wasn't very worried about the deadlines; however, my assignments lacked the quality I wanted them to have. They had no real flavor, they had no voice. Now that I am attending the Florida State University, I want to make a few changes. Instead of waiting until the last minute, I want to get ahead. I want my assignment to be the quality they are expected to be. I want to make my teacher proud and more importantly, I want to feel good about myself and the assignments that represent me as an individual and as a student at FSU.

Blog #1 - Alexander Wohlert

The whole idea of writing, especially when it will be critiqued, sends anxious waves through me.  Will it be what the teacher wants?  Will I get a good grade?  Will it make sense?  To date, I’ve not had the opportunity, or taken the time, to write anything for the sheer experience of writing.  I’m not a journal keeper so I’ve only really written for class assignments.  Part of the anxiety comes from the unknown in that each teacher I had seemed to have their own style and agenda as to how students should write.  Just as soon as I figured out one teacher’s writing “requirements,” the teacher changed and I found myself writing in a different style to meet their expectations.

Probably one of my main concerns or anxieties in writing is the organizational aspect.  I have many ideas rolling around in my brain and I’m not sure how to write them all down in a non-rambling, non-repetitive way.  A bad habit has been to focus on how many words are required or the assignment itself rather than how I’m communicating through my writing. When I think about the length, I tend to repeat myself.  The overall flow of ideas is then lacking.  Even now as I write, my mind is wandering to the word count.  My thoughts are also shifting to what others will think of my writing.  So I guess I’m anxious about many aspects regarding my writing.  As freshmen, we all come from different experiences, schools and educations, and because of this, I’m also wondering about whether my writing abilities are up to the standard of everyone else’s. Until I wrote this last sentence, I hadn’t realized how many anxieties actually surround my writing abilities.  I’m not sure though, if writing anxiety is any different from all the other anxieties that are now being felt as a freshman in college, away from home, living with strangers and in trying to find my way through a jungle of new classes and professors.  In any case, it was nice to read that Sarah Allen, a writer, can also be riddled with writing anxiety.