"Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing."
-Benjamin Franklin
As I approach the end of English 101, I am reminded of everything I have learned and all the skills I have gained from this course. I like to think of my progress through this course as a voyage of exploration. I conquered subjects and topics that were not comfortable to me at the start of this course. Like all adventure stories, the skills you gain along the way far surpass the importance of the outcome of the journey.
As a writer, your learning is never done. You can study the process and layout of your work, but technique and skill are something you can learn about forever. Great things can happen when writers consider their work as a form of art and not a right or wrong process. I feel that a similar realization occurred to me as I worked through this course. I tried to visualize every writing journal as a creative outlet and not a school assignment. After I became more comfortable with the idea, my writing started to improve. Not only the quality of my work but the grammar and structure. As I stopped focusing so heavily on the parts of writing that caused stress and uncertainty, the other elements improved.
Due to my increase in knowledge and experience from this course, my approach to writing tasks will forever be changed. This course has given me great tools for when I approach the invention processes. I found every invention process taught in this course to be very successful and helpful. When I approach a writing task, I will have a great strategy to start it and the knowledge to help me write exciting and detailed work.
One of the most significant and noticeable changes in my writing is comfortability. Before I started this journal, I decided to read some of the first journals I wrote for this course and noticed a tremendous change in the feel of the work. This is a skill I have wanted to improve for a very long time. My favorite books are written by those who are so comfortable with their craft that you can’t help but feel inspired after reading their work. They are the kind of authors that could write the phone book, and you would be moved. It is a hard feeling to explain, but I like to think of it as a hug. Whenever I recommend a book to someone, and I don’t know how to describe the contentment and happiness it evoked, I say it felt like a hug. Very few books have made me feel this way, and I can’t pinpoint why they do, but it is my favorite feeling. A few books that I would dub the book form of a hug are; Pride and Prejudice, The Giver, Geronimo Stilton, and A Series of Unfortunate Events. I understand how the books I listed may confuse my argument even more due to the lack of similarities, but the great thing about what I like to call a “hug book” is that it is different for everyone. It is a beautiful description and can grant a little glimpse into someone’s personality.
I am very pleased with my work from this course and how it has improved. I leave this course with a new set of skills and newfound confidence as I continue my writing journey. While I know I will undoubtedly encounter a bump in the road; I now know that those problems become great lessons. It has been a rewarding process, and I am very thankful that I have had this opportunity.
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