Wp4: My Writing
When I think of instances that I willingly write, a writing class would not be the first thing that comes to mind. Usually writing for me comes out of a need: writing an email, or writing a response for school. What this class provided for me was the opportunity to write about what I wanted to write about. There was real creative freedom in what I could write, and that was good for me.
Compared to past classes, though I was given a general idea of a topic to write about, I felt like the parameters behind what needed to be written made the writing not have as much freedom as I would have liked. The loose parameters of what I could write about for this class opened my ideas to what I thought academic writing to be.
I would sometimes write Yelp reviews to talk about my experiences at restaurants and occasionally I would film videos to document my experiences traveling or hanging out with my friends. I also used to write Tumblr blogs in the manner of a journal to talk about random life events anonymously. Writing essays at school and reading text just to write about them was something that I did not find enjoyment in. However, this class helped me realize that the reason behind that was because I was being told exactly what to write about and deviating from those instructions usually led to a bad grade.
My favorite project from this semester was WP2, where I was able to code something that I had a need for and write about my process behind it. This type of writing, the anecdotal/explanatory, was something that I have a strong interest in. During the scope of this project, I felt more organized that I have been on any other project I have done. Supplementing my coding with writing also helped me a lot with pacing and also made the writing process not feel like a chore. Moving forward, when I work on projects, I will write more of these supplemental pieces to help with the design and working process.
The bulk of the other writing I do is personal, as I am a fan of journaling. Filling a page with thoughts is much easier than writing a response to a book that I have read. The prompts that we had this semester regarding the readings were very thought provoking and were effective in leaning me towards writing in a more analytical way without taking away from my personal contribution to the topic. It helped me realize that I can be a contributor when it comes to writing about content I consume, whether it’s commenting on a reddit thread or writing about what I think a TV show means.
As I close out this semester, I look forward to writing more in my personal life whether it is about things that happen or ideas to come to mind. Reflecting about the role of writing in my life has given me a better understanding of why people write and knowing that there is no one way to write has given me the confidence to write more without the need to want to please the reader. At the end of the day, the only one that really matters is me and I should be writing for myself and not for others. If other people are able to enjoy my writing, then great.
Multimodality has also been something that I learned could be integrated into writing to make it more interesting and expressive. I have noticed that a lot of the content that I consume on Youtube are things that are carefully planned out and provide a takeaway for the viewer. I have learned that writing without a purpose creates writing that is one off, but writing with purpose creates something that others can enjoy and take something away from. In the same regard, making content, be it videos, writing, code, all require a clear purpose and should have a takeaway if it is for an intended audience. For a project that I decided is for myself, purpose is still important, because if I write without purpose then it is more so a stream of consciousness and less of a meaningful project. Not to say that streams of consciousness do not have their advantages.
As I complete my last writing class of my undergraduate career, I will be mindful of how I can use writing to express my ideas and continue to write for myself. I am glad that I chose a writing class that emphasized creativity and built on a structure that is for the students.
