Ideas.
Organization.
Voice.
Word Choice.
Sentence Fluency.
Conventions & Presentation.
Through my Primary Literacy Methods course I will learn how to be a better writer. I will deconstruct the writing process in order to gain insight into the world of writing, so that I might do a better job. Above are the "6 traits of writing," which if done well make for masterful pieces of writing.
I want to learn how to be a writer. I want to learn how to do it well. I want to make it a hobby, something I do for fun. Something I do to escape. Something I do to decompress. Something I do to stimulate my mind powers. Something I do to reach other people.
I have been told several times that I'm a good writer. I once turned in an internship journal and the professor proclaimed that it was one of the best things he has read ever. He also made similar remarks on my papers that I turned in for class. At one point he was willing to work with me on editing one of these papers in light of potentially having it published in a journal. However, I have since lost that paper somewhere (I'm pretty sure it's at my parents' house), and have lost the ability to access that journal for publication. I have the ability to do a lot with my words, but I don't know how.
Ideas: what am I writing about, what is the subject matter, what details make the story come alive?
Organization: what is the format of the piece? Paragraphs, single lines?
Voice: am I fully in the piece of writing, can I be heard throughout the lines, in between the lines, over the lines?
Word Choice: can I say things in a more vibrant or creative way?
Sentence Fluency: how does it flow? Do the words roll of the mental tongue or does it require work to get through it?
Conventions & Presentation: Is everything spelled correctly? How does it look on the page? Font type, size, color, pictures?
I know all of these things, and yet I'm still not sure I'm a good writer. I lack motivation. I lack inspiration. I lack the confidence to put pen to page over and over again. I fear revisiting work, because I don't feel as if it was very good to begin with, so there is nothing I can do to make it better. I have never edited a piece that I wrote since starting this project. I have merely let the words fall onto the page and walked away. There are pages and pages of poems, prose and story sitting on pages that are dying to be worked with. Remodeled, reworked, created new, but I don't. I write and walk away. There is no conventions to be hold. If it sucks it sucks, and if it's decent it probably sucks too!
I even got 2nd place at the Des Moines Poetry Slam once. I probably should have gotten 3rd, but one of the people went well over the 3 minute limit. However, nonetheless, I got to read 3 of my pieces and they liked them. I read for my friends, and they like them. I did a whole set during a show I put together and it was fun. There are shining moments of glory out there, which I should just focus on to push me forward. Then I remember the one time I went to DM Social Club's Open Circus to read a set of pieces, and it wasn't so great. The crowd wasn't into it, it was late, nobody was really there to listen, and I was well out of my element. It wasn't so great. I remember the one time I submitted pieces to be considered for publication and didn't make it. It made me a little sad, but I had no grandiose ideas of making the cut.
However, all writers will tell you that being rejected is just a part of the game. One of my professors has a bulletin board of letters of acceptance and rejection for submissions… I bet you can't guess which side has more letters on it. Our stories won't appeal to everybody, but if we let it stop us for telling them then, nobody will hear them.
I am convinced that something I have to say is going to change the life of one person in my lifetime—if it hasn't already. I just have to remember that my story is just as good as everybody elses, it is just a matter of:
Idea.
Organization.
Voice.
Word Choice.
Sentence Fluency.
Conventions & Presentation.
Keep writing world. We have work to do!
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