Essay topic 2: Overall description of your learning experience in LITR 3731 Creative Writing and its potential applications to your writing / teaching career.

Christina Holmes

I am Writer—Hear Me Roar!

         Not having any prior knowledge of writing, and wanting to be a writer, I thought this class would help me gain a deeper understanding of what the requirements were to become a writer. I was under the impression that in order to be considered a writer I had to have published a piece of my work. Not having done that, I felt a little apprehensive about the class. For some reason I thought we would all be sitting around talking about where our work was published. Was I wrong? I had written, nothing published though, just snippets that I keep on my computer in the hopes that once I finish all my literature classes I will be more versed in how to write.

The first hurdle was presenting to the entire class. For this reason I chose to volunteer to do the first presentation primarily so that I could get it out of the way. Oddly enough it was a poetry selection that I had to come up with by the next scheduled class- only a week away. I sat and contemplated to myself what on earth could I write about that would impress the teacher and let my peers see that, “Hey, I am a writer too?” Needless to say when I finally sat and gave it some serious thought I decided to do something called free verse. Honestly I didn’t know what it was but had heard it mentioned a few times at poetry readings, on television and in the text of our first reading of Three Genres chapter I, “Free verse is like free style dancing in that it has no present structure.” Perfect, I thought, that is exactly how I see poetry.

Finding a topic was my next hurdle. In the 3^rd chapter Minot mentions that in looking for subjects to write on, “Insights about friends and family sometimes creep up on you.” Excellent I thought, I will write about my family—too broad—then while watching a television show called, “The Wire,” I saw an individual in the show, a heroin addict, that reminded me of my brother. I had my topic.  After completing my poem—or what I thought was completion—I presented it to the class. Nervous, no, but perhaps a little shocked at the responses. I thought for sure someone in the workshop would yell out, “What the hell was that?” That didn’t happen, so half the battle was over with. To my surprise the responses I received were encouraging.   It was at that moment that I considered myself a writer.

Once I had acknowledged myself as a writer, I found out that the process was ongoing. Not only was I expected to take the comments and read thorough them I was also to make changes to my piece. At first, I must admit, I thought well if we are all novices, how can I take their advice? But after further reading from the text I found out that writing is an ongoing process that must be revised, revised and revised. It is this process of revising that Minot speaks of as, “fine-tuning,” your writing. After getting over the initial hurdles I felt a bit more relaxed in class and knew that we were all there for the same purpose; to learn how to be better writers.

In an effort to be better writers there must be someone who can tell you when your writing is not being as effective as you would like it to be. For this purpose I thought the workshop was ideal.  According to Minot, “[An individual] needs time to read and to write, but you also need people who know what you are trying to do and will react in helpful ways.” I found this extremely important because most of the time when I share my writing with someone close to me like a family member they aren’t objective and all I hear is, “Oh that sounds great, you are very talented.” However, here is where the true purpose of the workshop comes into play. Because your peers know the reason behind your writing (becoming better at it) they are more apt to offer constructive criticism about your work.

It is this constructive criticism that made me a little fearful of the class in the beginning. In all honesty who wants to be criticized? However, after attending the workshops and presenting my poem, then my revisions, I found that the help from the workshop made me feel  more capable as a writer and I agreed with  former student , Neelam Damani, “Throughout this writing process, I realized that being a writer is not easy. It takes much dedication, patience and perseverance.”

This class has helped me to acknowledge this concept and in leaving the course I take with me many lessons;

·        a writer doesn’t have to be published to be a writer

·        there is no perfect time to write

·        a writer writes at all times

·        personal experiences make great subjects

·        short stories can have just as much impact as novels.

I have truly enjoyed this class and it has served its purpose—it has given me the deeper understanding of what the requirements are to become a better writer. In addition it has also provided a learning element that I think would be an excellent teaching tool in the high school arena, which is the workshop aspect of the course. Because of the positive feedback from my peers and the motivation it provided, I could see use of a workshop being successful in the classroom at any level; perhaps with a little tweaking for the age group, it would help make literature more interesting. Of all the lessons from the class, I think the most significant that I take with me is to have found out that I am a work in progress. For I am a writer—hear me roar!