Personal Narrative: What I Learned In My Writing

I have always enjoyed writing; however, I have never enjoyed the process of writing as much as I do now. Entering this semester, I felt confident in my skills as a writer and did not expect to learn as much as I have. Each class, I found myself learning new skills to apply to my writing. I think the most important thing I learned this semester is that writing does not have to be a daunting task and that writing is about what one does with the knowledge he has. Prior to this semester, when I was planning for an essay I felt as though I was preparing to climb a mountain. I saw writing an essay as one whole piece rather than a series of steps. Now when I look at an essay, I think about all the steps that go into making it one continuous work such as drafting, outlining, proofreading, and revising. Not only has this helped me to not become as overwhelmed when I begin an essay, it has helped me to strengthen my writing. I used to get caught up in writing a "good" paper on the first attempt and missed out on the journey; I did not have the chance
to fully express my ideas because my writing had become a mechanical process rather than a creative one. I found that through freewriting and keeping a personal journal, I was able to discover my voice as a writer. In addition, I realized my sentences and paragraphs did not need to be coherent and concise on my first try. Writing soon became a fun process and one where I could express myself. During the first week of class when I found out that the initial assignment would be a narrative essay, I was intimidated to say the least.
I had never been particularly great at writing about myself, and for that essay I did not want it to be obvious that I was dual-enrolled and had only fifteen years of life experiences to draw from. However, after writing the essay, I learned a lot about myself, and I realized that writing has a lot to do with how one learns from and uses the experiences he or she has had. Even though I only had one year of high school experience, if I did not apply it, it would be useless. I had the epiphany that how old I am did not have to hold me back as a writer, but that I needed to use all my life experiences up to that point to pour into my writing if I was going to be successful. I learned that it is okay to make mistakes because later on they might just make a good subject for a piece of
writing. As a writer, I feel that I have grown and changed significantly this semester. I learned about grammar rules that I did not know existed; I learned new techniques that have allowed me to express my voice through my writing; and I learned how to translate my life experiences into a format that can be used in my academic writing. However, I did not only become a stronger, more confident writer, I also became more confident in my academic abilities, expressing my opinions, and I realized how much room I still have to grow as a writer.