Why I write

My goal in writing is to be able to be my most authentic. For me, poetry is a releasing of raw emotions. Complete and utter honesty of emotion is necessary to have a good piece. I don’t believe that the topic or genre of a piece matters but a reader can tell when there is something disingenuous about a piece of writing. It is supposed to make the writer uncomfortable to be sharing so much yet they still do for the sake of their art. Writing exposes what we don’t always freely say. With my writing, I am trying to hone in on my honesty because I feel like that will make my writing better. I sometimes steer away from being too honest because in my head I can almost picture the people I am writing about or just someone who I don’t want to see my writing reading it out loud. That picture keeps so many words in my head and off the page which makes me sad. I want to be less scared to be very explicit because I want to get my thoughts out there and see what I can really do with my art when I’m not scared of consequences.

two creative writing workshops come to an end

I start every portfolio letter with saying that the writer’s portfolio is well-constructed. I geniunely mean that statement. Every portfolio that I have had the pleasure of reading is one that is well constructed, sometimes to the point where I’m afraid of toppling the house of cards with a possible revision suggestion. But lately, it feels like I’ve run out of comments.

I am currently in two creative writing workshops. I really enjoy both of them, and I have learned so much about myself as a writer from taking these two workshops. One workshop, poetry, was a genre I felt comfortable in, but still forced myself to grow in. The other workshop, fiction, was in a genre I had not written in a while, and learning to orient myself to being a prose reader and writer was a challenge. I am responsible for writing letters for all the writers in my fiction workshop, plus the select few from poetry. Suffice it to say, I have written a lot of letters. I also think that the more I write on a piece, the more helpful it will be to the writer, especially if I think my letter is lacking and I think of something in workshop. This amounts to many comments I have made on other people’s pieces.

My schedule next semester means I cannot take a creative writing workshop next semester. This development upset me, and I will miss the regular practice of writing, as well as the workshop environment, very much. The next two semesters are very demanding on my second major. Next semester, I will be in Block V, the last block before student teaching. This block contains four education classes, leaving me with very little room to fit a workshop in. Unlike previous education courses, they all take place during workshop times, instead of being slightly earlier in the day. In Fall 2020, I will be student teaching. This entails two placements, certification tests, and no other classes to be taken. Spring 2021, the semester where I will graduate, will be the semester in which I will have the opportunity to take my final workshop and the Senior Seminar. Needless to say, the opportunity to be in a workshop environment won’t come for a while.

How do you plan on writing regularly? What is your reflection process? Let me know in the comments.