"I cannot teach anybody anything,
I can only make them think."
- Socrates
When approaching the Writer's Journals, I try to write as if I am writing in my personal journal. The process for how I write for these assignments, and my personal reflection is very similar. For the Writer's Journal assignments, I am given a prompt, questions to answer, and keywords to use. In my personal journal, I usually write when something interesting has happened, I have an idea I don't want to forget, or a topic I want to reflect on. I use metacognition to elaborate and help myself understand the prompt further.
Metacognition has been recently added to my vocabulary, and I find it fascinating that we are using this process when we try to understand what we're thinking. I am continually trying to understand my thoughts better. Especially as a writer, if you discern your thoughts, you can tie those feelings into your writing and create remarkably complex storylines. When I think about fascinating books, essays, or articles, complexity is always the theme. When your writing makes people think or question things, you know you have created a riveting story.
Writing assignments often cause "writer's block" when I attempt to start them. When I am not given a question to answer, I can dive right in. As I familiarize myself with the process of writing for an assignment, I have improved my ability to immerse myself in the topic to get a better understanding. With all my work, I like to break down each part of the assignment to understand it better. As I break it down, I write notes or ideas that I think will be useful when I begin. I oftentimes reflect on different assignments to help myself complete future works. I try to remember when I had success with a previous assignment and use that same process to recreate a similar success.
The most challenging part of writing is putting your thoughts into words. More often than not, I stare at my work, trying to figure out how to put my thoughts into an understandable idea. Organizing your thoughts is the key to fixing this problem; this skill is an arduous feat. In order to organize and understand your thoughts, you must first reach mental clarity. By clearing your mind, you can focus on your thoughts one at a time. As you interpret your thoughts, you can organize them and create a clear and concise idea. Every time I write, I try to use this process of mental clarity. I meditate for five to thirty minutes, depending on how long it takes until I have cleared all of my thoughts. Then I try to focus on one thought at a time. Sometimes I write about that one thought on scratch paper to truly grasp it. Then I repeat the process until all of my ideas are clear and convey one message.
As I approach future assignments, I will use my mental clarity and thought organizing method to complete them. I have been successful with this process in the past, and I hope it remains that way in the future. The process will not be perfect every time I use it, but perfection isn't achievable without mistakes.
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