My Writing Experience Essay

Emma Barterian X. Li
WRA 150
September 18, 2013

Writing Experiences

It’s hard to imagine a life without writing. From research papers, school essays, and resumes, to text messaging, grocery lists, and passing notes during class, writing is a huge part of my daily life. Sometimes I write as part of requirements for a class of to apply for a scholarship or a program. Other times I write to amuse myself or to remind myself to do something. I’ve changed as I’ve gotten older, and my writing has changed along the way. When I was in elementary school, I didn’t think much about writing. I just enjoyed putting down on paper the little things that popped into my head. I used to be very diligent at writing in my journal every night before I went to sleep. Anything could have made it into the journal: song lyrics, to do lists, funny jokes or stories, a quote I read, etc., there was no criteria. This pleasure writing did not have much structure. In my journal, for example, I would usually just write using quick abbreviations, pictures instead of words, or one short word that would remind me of what the rest of the topic was about, acting as small triggers. When I was little girl, writing was a way to express myself.
Over time, writing turned into something I was forced to do in school about topics I didn’t like and
subjects I wasn’t interested in. It was at this time, in middle and high school, when I realized how lucky I was to grow up in a family of talented writers. My uncle has his own business as an editor and my mom has a minor in English and they are both always a little too eager to ‘take a look’ at my papers. Usually it comes back to my covered in red ink but I’d rather have them rip me apart then be ripped about by a teacher for a grade. My mom and Uncle Jerry have influenced my writing in a way I cannot explain, but I do thank them for everything they have taught me. I know I still have a ways to go in terms of writing but without their influences I would still be learning how to form a sentence and when to capitalize letters. Now in college, while some people may prefer a quiet uninterrupted place to write, I prefer the low hum of the TV or Pandora softly playing in the background. Living in a family of two crazy younger sisters, two out of control parents, and a spastic Australian shepherd puppy, I’ve learned how to block out my surroundings. I think growing up in a loud upbringing shaped my preferred writing environment to the way it is now. I don’t like silence, or at least writing in silence. The low hum helps me concentrate and focus on writing. I write best when it’s about a topic I can relate to or an experience that I have been through.
Writing a research paper about microorganisms sounds awful to me; on the other hand, if it was a paper on ‘which stores have the best jeans for teen girls’ or ‘a poll on the best looking actor of 2013’ then you could definitely count me in. I write best when I want to write. Not even in just writing, but being forced to do something you don’t want to do or to write about something you don’t want to write about, there won’t be a positive result. Sometimes you don’t have a choice but as a whole, I write better when I can pick what I’m writing
about. All in all, I hope I can continue to find ways to improve my writing and find ways to enjoy it so it comes through in what I write. The structure of the kinds of writing I have done, my preferred writing environments, the people who influenced my writing, and the ways I believe I write the best are the writing experiences that brought me here today.