Writing is an important skill, a fundamental means of human expression, and is one of the most prevalent ways we communicate in society and the world today. Numerous forms of writing are bombarding us constantly. Whether it’s a book, news article, email, text, or billboard there is writing everywhere. It is a part of our world today and has been for thousands of years. The skill of writing is necessary for nearly every occupation today in some capacity. As I begin my college education, I believe it is important to establish a strong writing foundation and to reflect upon the events that have influenced myself as a writer. This will enable me to examine some of my potential strengths and weaknesses as well as to improve myself as a writer. For me, my early English education, straightforward way of communicating, and experiences in English 101 are all things that define me as a writer and allow me to examine concerns in my writing as I enter ERH-102.

At an early age as I was beginning to develop my writing skills, my education consisted of mainly fun, creative writing endeavors focused on encouraging a love for learning. I enjoyed these endeavors to some extent and even occasionally wrote short stories or kept a diary for fun. However, as the years went by, these enjoyable assignments were all too soon replaced by long, extremely structured assignments I did not enjoy at all. I felt as though my creativity was limited by the demanding constraints of longer, harder, and more frequent writing assignments. While I was quite fond of books and did a lot of reading for fun, writing on my own free time was nearly nonexistent. I lacked the motivation to attempt any writing or journaling on my own anymore. I wrote what was necessary for school assignments and nothing more. Sometimes even writing short notes in greeting cards was an annoyance to me! Thankfully, I loved reading and flew through a multitude of books at a young age. I believe this impacted me in a very positive way. It also made a valuable impact on me as a writer. My vocabulary was expanded and I was opened up to new writing styles and ideas. Even if I wasn’t necessarily noticing, it was affecting my writing in a powerful way.

While writing is not a particularly enjoyable task for me, I am not lacking in ability. When I am determined to do well and put in the necessary effort my writing is satisfactory. I am normally able to produce a clear and well written paper. Communicating well and getting your point across clearly is vital to any paper. I feel that I am able to do this well, allowing readers to comprehend my ideas with ease. However, sometimes in my writing I come up short in the word count because of my directness. While this isn’t always a bad thing, length can sometimes be an issue for me. It can be a struggle for me to write longer essays and meet a certain word count. Occasionally, I will have to add ideas in order to meet the requirements for an assignment. The ability to communicate efficiently, however, is an important skill.

In English 101 my technique as a writer was honed. I learned many valuable things to improve myself as a writer in this course. Specifically, my organizational proficiency increased dramatically. In previous instances I made almost no effort to organize any of my thoughts or ideas before I began composing my essays. This was detrimental to my writing. As I began to organize more consistently, it promoted a clearness and fluency that benefitted my writing. Making outlines aided in the formulation of my essays. Also, I made sure to have a strong thesis statement for my writing which assisted in the organization process. As it should, this guided my essays and set the foundation for my points in the body of the writing. Now, as I begin ERH-102 it is beneficial to examine some areas in my writing that still need some work. For example, I would like to continue to improve my grammar skills, as they are essential to being a distinctive communicator. I am also looking forward to the short free-writing sessions each week because I believe this will encourage and spur on my ability to write lengthier essays and produce ideas without pausing often. It may also help me cultivate positive feelings towards writing in general.  My experiences in English 101 have improved my writing in a variety of ways, and as I look ahead to this semester of ERH-102 it is helpful to look for even more areas that need to be improved.

Writing is everywhere around us and essentially cannot be avoided. Therefore, it is a necessity to be able to communicate by means of writing in our world today. My writing has been influenced by my early English education, and my way of direct communication also has implications in my writing. These influences, alongside of my experiences in English 101, have in some ways shaped me as a writer today and by examining them more closely it can enable me to recognize areas that require further growth and improvement.