Week 1

Week: 1

What is writing? 

            The definition of writing, to me, is only dependent on what you’re writing. Writing can be used for various reasons. When I feel like there is something in my mind; writing it down helps. When you write down that thought, it almost feels as if you’re leaving whatever it was on paper, it’s like your head was cleared on the thought and now you can move on. Those thoughts can be both good and bad. The good thoughts can include; ideas, something exciting, or even the great day you could have had. The bad thoughts can be; anything that has you feeling down, the terrible day you want to forget, or something that could possible frighten you. Writing is what you make it. 

            To be successful in writing make sure the word choice is at the readers level, whatever you’re writing makes sense, and confidence. Depending on the reader, the words may be able to be at a higher level or they may have to be at a lower level. For instance, a child would need lower level writing so they can read and understand what you’re saying; as opposed to a young adult/adult, who would understand higher leveled words. While you’re writing, the reader needs to be able to understand what the writing is about. Most times you may not be the only one reading what you’re writing. You need to remember that if it makes sense to you, that doesn’t mean it will make sense to the reader. When I said, “make sure the writing makes sense”, I mean the reader needs to be able to understand what you’re saying in order to comprehend the text. For example, if an author was to write a novel and not mention a character’s name and only uses pronouns to describe the characters, you would get confused between who was who in the story. The writing has to be detailed to keep the reader intrigued in what you’re writing about. I feel as confidence is also an important part of writing. When you’re confident in your writing, more comes to you. If you don’t feel confident while writing, instead of thinking about stuff to write about, you’d be thinking about how you’re already going to do awful at it anyway, why write? You have to KNOW you can do it in order to be successful at it. 

            When it comes to me, I see myself as a more narrative type. I say that because I love to tell stories. When I’m telling a story, I try to make the listener or reader picture the situation meaning I tell every detail so that person can feel like they were there too. When telling a story, it is important to be descriptive. I feel as leaving one detail out can ruin a story or confuse a person. I would also say narrative would be my personal style because I think fiction stories are cool to write as well. My goal when writing a fiction story is to keep the reader intrigued. I usually just put myself in a situation and think on what or how I’d want to happen. Narrative writing is more entertaining, to me, than any other style. 

Key Terms 

1. Narrative 
2. Descriptive
3. Expository
4. Persuasive
5. Fiction
6. Non fiction
7. Autobiographies 

Billy Collins’ Commencement 

When reading Mr. Collins’ commencement, what I took from it was that we need to focus on being happy. People these days sit on technology 24/7, stress about school or work, or take life for granted. Everyone is so obsessed with looking at their phone or computer screens to get information, no one wants to go out and FIND information anymore. Mr. Collins was right when he talked about going to sit in nature, staring at it and just enjoying it. He brought up that the graduates shouldn’t give up the high school in them and I agree with that statement. I have lived the full-time job life in a big company and am still living it. I work with multiple adults and they have showed me that maturity does not change as you become an adult, the pettiness does not stop. In order to survive in the real world, you need to stand up for yourself, believe in yourself, and most importantly stay positive. The real world can hit you like a brick if you are one of those people who let others walk all over you. Stress can be cause by moving so fast that you’re rushing to get stuff done. When you’re rushing, things tend to go wrong and that can be avoidable if you would just stop, take a breath, slow down, and relax. People don’t sit long enough to think about how great it is to be alive and healthy. They don’t enjoy life anymore; the simply let life control them. When I say that, I mean that people get down on themselves when something isn’t going right instead of taking control and fixing whatever is going on right then and there. Allowing yourself to stress proves you take life for granted. Be positive, enjoy this life you live, and TAKE CONTROL.

As I was reading, I was very interested in what the commencement was about. It made me stop and think. I would say it was very successful according to my criteria because it was intriguing, at the readers level, and it made sense. I was able to understand the message Mr. Collins was leaving for us while reading. 

I would revise my list of key terms, not much but by one word. I would add intriguing to my list. Mr. Collins’ commencement had me intrigued with not only what he was saying but with what he meant by what he was saying. Keeping the reader intrigued is a huge part of writing. You want that person to understand you so I feel it could be a key term.