Writing has
always been a strange thing for me. I was an absolutely box-minded, horrible
writer when I was younger until I was inspired by a teacher of mine in 5th
grade (see “Writing Review Week” post during Week 8). Since, I have had no real trouble with it, that
is, until recently. This past semester I have written more than I have in over
two years. This class, as well as my Law & Society class, has forced me out
of my comfort zone of technical writing into a more creative realm I hadn’t
visited in quite some time. Writing without the strict constraints of “hypothesis, steps, justification, etc.” has been incredibly difficult for me to get
used to. Many would argue that there is no “wrong” writing, and anyone who has
written a technical report would quickly refute that: hence my struggle. Many
times I sat down with my fingers resting on my keyboard and no idea what to do.
I didn’t have an outline. I didn’t have a set goal. I was just supposed to
write. And I did, and more often than not, beauty fell out.
Writing,
especially in a college setting, always seems to have so many constraints
placed upon it. “Make sure it’s five pages. Have an obvious thesis. Stay on
topic. Follow this format.” and so on and so on. I always sit there with a rubric
in my hands, holding back a little scream and all of my creativity. It’s a
little backwards. If I can adequately convey my point in four and a half pages,
why must it be five? What if my thesis isn’t blatantly stated by design? It’s a
big no-no to cross the rubric in collegiate writing, and granted the
constraints are there to weed out the excuses, but is completely restricting my
thinking better than half a page of babble? I’m not sure I know that answer but
to that I say:
I am SO
incredibly thankful that I ended up taking this course. While it may have been
stressful at times to think of a story and execute it with proper grammar and
punctuation, it re-opened my thought processes and my love of literature and
prose. I am really excited to finally have time to read over the summer for the
first time in months. I’ve even decided to start a blog of some sort for me to
babble about my struggles and successes, at least through the summer. Hopefully
throughout the rest of my college experience as well. I have a feeling that blog is going to be a
lot like me: confusing, random, ridiculous and overly sarcastic… but that’s beside
the point. “Epics of India” was much
more than just another class to get through, but an eye opener to culture,
stories, writing…creativity! I would have thought I would enjoy something like
this as much as I did and I am so glad that a strange series of events led me
to this rekindling of such a wonderful thing.
 |
| Image which reads "Find your voice. Express yourself. Creative Writing" Provided by Wikipedia Commons |
