Blog #1 - WIlliam McKenna

     My whole life, writing has always scared me because I've never seen myself as a great writer. I often have trouble coming up with ideas and a way to start my paper off well. My main anxiety when it comes to writing however lies in the grammar as well as mechanics too. I sometimes feel like the sentences I right and the words Im using don't quite read correctly. I feel like I often have trouble finding better-sounding ways to phrase my ideas and thoughts. When it comes to grammar I make a lot of mistakes because were Im from in New York we don't always speak with perfect grammar and that habit often translates accidentally into my writing. If I could manage to get my mechanics and grammar perfected I would certainly not be as anxious as I usually am when it comes time to write a paper. Organization however, I usually do pretty well with when it comes to the way my paper reads. The organization of my thoughts and ideas is what sometimes gives me problems. Deadlines don't phase me to much because when I comes time for my work I always make sure I get it done as early as possible no matter what other things might be trying to distract me.
       My grade is all I care about and all I think about while writing my papers if I'm going to be perfectly honest. Like when I took my SAT for example I was so concerned about my grade that I've never tried so hard to write something great before. If grades were not involved when it came to writing I probably would not write often at all. As for sharing my work with others, Ive never really been one to go looking for others opinions on my writings. If I am required to though I don't stress over it because often times peoples input can help greatly. People thinking my ideas are stupid or misunderstanding my argument is exactly the reasons I get hesitant when It comes to showing people my writing. Hopefully though, after this course, Ill learn to get over my my fears and become a better overall writer.

Evan Schroder- Blog #1 ENC 1101

When I begin to write the first thing to come to my mind is how long the paper has to be. This stems from my main problem of starting my projects at the last minute. You are always told to start your assignment right away and get it done so you don't have to worry about it the last night, it is a lot less stressful that way, but for some reason there always seems to be something better to do. Whether its procrastinating on the computer or going out with friends I always find a way to save my work for the last minute. So wondering how long the paper is going to be is a main concern for me, because i'm rushing to get it done normally. The other issue, or thing that makes me most anxious, is grammar. Sometimes I just flat out don't know how to form certain sentences, but most of the time it's because I just try to get all of my ideas down on paper as quickly as possible before I forget them. Which leads me to speeding through the essay without stopping even for a second to add a coma, and often leads to run on sentences or fragments. Another problem that is not as much of a concern is transitioning my ideas in an essay. I have heard from teachers in the past that the flow of my essay's could be improved. Just having one transition sentence at the end of a paragraph can be the difference between a good or great paper. I typically do pretty well in English although I don't love to write, I've never really had a problem with creativity or adding enough details. Most of my anxiousness is created by last minute work which I will have to change in not only this class but college in general.

Blog #1 - Allison Clarke-Hall

For as long as I remember writing has always caused me anxiety. From informal writing such as a personal journal to my senior project research paper, I have never felt secure that I am anywhere near decent in conveying my words on paper. When I think about it, I cannot pinpoint the exact origin of my "writing-phobia". My anxiety does not just derive from grammar or page length. Not from vocabulary or the due date. I feel apprehensive in every way when it comes to writing. When it comes to classroom writing assignments I usually receive a decent grade of an A or B but when it comes to nation writing tests such as the Graduation Writing Test I had to take in 11th grade or the SAT and ACT, I have always received a less than par score. I have a feeling it has to do with the fact that I am awful as revising my own papers. I mean, I can find the punctuation errors easily enough but I can never efficiently improve my sentence and paragraph structure. Another one of my causes of uneasiness spawns from my lack of flowing ideas. When I'm writing a paper, I always have the basic outline of all the points I want to cover in the paper. Now, this is easy enough to write in a paragraph but if I left the paragraph at that, I would have a bunch of three sentence paragraphs. I always have a hard time with the fluff aspect of the paper. When trying to come up with those extra sentences that support the main point of the argument or fact, I always end up just staring the computer screen for twenty or so minutes before deciding to add a few prepositional phrases here and there to increase my word count. Like Sarah Allen said, I have always wanted to be the "Inspired Writer". I have always wanted to be the writer who is able to easily communicate ideas on a piece of paper. But in reality, those writers do not exist and the only way to become a good writer is to develop the skills (like grammar, sentence structure, organization, etc.) needed to successfully communicate to the reader.

Emily Plower- Blog Post #1 ENC 1101

My anxiety with writing lies at its most fundamental root, grammar. I can remember always excelling in math, science, and reading when younger, but grammar, was always my weak point. While other students would point out sentence structure and prepositional phrases, I watched frozen and unknown of the correct answer. A perfect example of this was during the SAT, one of my first practices that I took I received a writing score of a 480, which was almost 200 points lower than my other sections. With this score though I received tutoring and countless worksheets that my tutor would promise me, weren't used in her second grade class to teach her younger students, but secretly I knew they were. Receiving such a low score and needing so much help humbled me, but also added to my insecurities in my grammar and worried me that my writing would come across as "unintelligent" or "awkward". I improved however and received a 550, which isn't the best, but for me, it was a huge accomplishment. I could relate to Sarah Allen's "The Inspired Writer vs. The Real Writer" in that it made me feel like I wasn't alone in this struggle of writing. She comments that people assumed she was "good" at writing because she liked to do it, but in reality that was in many ways the thing that enabled her own writers block at times. I also really liked the idea of revising, that fact that one can go back and revise their work and to improve upon it, in my case, grammar and mechanics. It takes time to write a polished paper and the first draft is only the beginning. I now notice that writing will continually involve and that the paper I wrote for a first draft and that is filled with mistakes is okay, because it can be changed and improved upon, and edited for those potential embarrassing mistakes in grammar.

Blog #1

The aspect of writing that gives me the most anxiety is the fundamentals of writing.  Grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary are all major concerns to me during any form of writing activity. It seems outlandish to think that a student, from the 21st century, would worry about such a thing, seeing as there are so many programs to eliminate these elementary errors.  Unfortunately, no matter how much comfort there is in these programs the worry still lingers in the back of my head quietly reminding me how humiliating it would be to send a paper riddled with such simple mistakes to someone.  Furthermore, as my writing expires increases the voice gets louder and louder because of the expectation of the people around me get higher and higher.  It is a worry that most likely always linger, but it is my goal to make that voice as quiet as possible.

Blog #1

Before I even began to read Sarah Allen’s essay, I thought to myself about what I’m most anxious when it comes to writing. Whether it is writing a paper or a piece of music or even a simple introductory blog post to an English composition class, I have always had a constant feeling of inadequacy. As I was reading Sarah Allen’s essay, it was as if she stole the words right out of my mind! Every time I write, I often try to be the “Inspired Writer” that Allen talked about, and when I don’t meet up with those expectations, I feel unfulfilled and engulfed in tasteless mediocrity. My attempts towards being the perfectionist that I often strive to be usually lead me into writer’s block. I then proceed to lose most of my initial thoughts and inspiration, and I often end up with a product that I’m not happy with since it doesn't parallel with the “Inspired Writer” that I originally had in me. My dissatisfaction leads me towards wishing that I have put down all my original ideas before trying to make one idea perfect, forgetting the rest of the great ideas I originally had. It might even be my failure to plan; I don’t know. Even when it comes to planning out a paper, I feel like my plans aren't perfect and rather inadequate, leading me towards perfecting my planning and forgetting my original purpose of planning to begin with. It all comes full circle. I worry too much about making the perfect paper, which often leads towards me making the paper worse, instead of me pursuing the “Real Writer” in me.

Blog #1

When writing, what most worries me most is the purpose of the assigned the paper. If I am just given busy work, I feel like it wastes the time of everyone who is involved.  The contributing factor is the teacher who works from eight to three, just the get a paycheck. Writing is an art form, not just a mobile to get a passing grade or a day's pay. Teachers should nurture a student's writing, as every important revolution of the past thousand years has started with some hot-head who could not keep his or her pen still. Imagine the world without John Locke or Voltaire. Without them, the United States of America would look very different, if existent at all, and as a result, the rest of the world would follow. If an eighteen year old Locke was given an assignment to run out the bell, how would he respond to it? He could very well become uninterested or annoyed with writing. Fortunately, his teachers were the most prestigious in England, and we got the resultant John Locke and his ideals. While composing, I cannot help but feel distracted by the possibility that my work has in no way improved from the following year. I want to write with a purpose, write to improve, not to fill a teacher's wallet. Essays and assignments need to serve its writer and its audience, and that could be anything. Whether it's to topple a dictatorship, or to tell readers to never watch The Amazing Spiderman 2, write with a purpose.