What My Writing Means To Me

As I sit here now writing this journal, I can’t help but feel how brilliantly ironic it is to write a whole journal on the topic of how I write. Besides that though, I guess I should begin. Writing, for me, has always been somewhat of a friend and a home. It’s been a companion through dark times, and a place I could go no matter how I was feeling. I have a deep love of the written word, and a great respect for anyone who puts pen to paper. (Or, in the new age of “handy-dandy” Chromebooks, anyone who puts keys to Google Docs.) That all being said, I have mixed feelings on how I view myself specifically. I think in my many years of jotting down random short stories and poetry, I have developed a strong grasp of all the traits of writing. On the other hand though, I definitely think there are still areas of my writing that could be improved.
Word choice is like walking a tight rope, and sometimes it is hard for me to a find a middle ground that really works for whatever it is I’m writing. Though I have an extensive vocabulary, it always seems that I either rush through my writing and use words that are too simple and dull, or I go overboard and fill my paper with perplexingly lengthy terms and bewilderingly peculiar expressions. So one thing I would like to continue working on as I develop as a writer is my ability to appropriately choose words that are neither too simplistic nor too complex. As far as voice goes in writing, I feel I have developed a bad habit of disconnecting myself from my writing when the topic is formal, and even sometimes when the topic is informal. I tend to take out or just simply not add many personal tidbits or insights, which I think in the long run takes away from my writing as a whole. I’d like to continue working on letting myself and personality show through my writing, and not being so uptight and