My Writing Hopes

Dear Diary,

Here's my fourth, and final, personal evaluation for my Lit class....

Love (always),

me <3

Hopes and Dreams

            Throughout the past year, while I was shaping and editing my writing, my writing was shaping and editing me. The way I process thoughts has changed; my thoughts have even become more grammatically correct. The way I casually comment on Facebook has changed; I am amazed at the difference in my comments between a year ago and now. As much as I like looking back and seeing how much I have improved since then, though, I need to look toward the future, as well.

            I am not the type of person who would say that ten or fifteen years from now she could see herself publishing a book of some sort. My dream job is a lawyer; I love debate and law. Debating for the past three years has shown me that to carry a successful argument, I need to have clear thoughts and clear writing. I would not be able to carry and win a case if the judge had no idea what I was talking about. I hope that my writing will become more clear and concise throughout the years.

            Putting a career involving writing aside, I have one main goal for my writing: to glorify God. After reading several of my classmates’ personal evaluations, this answer seems almost cliché. However, it is truly my main goal in life: to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. Wherever my writing leads me in life, I hope that I will always keep my Lord and Savior in mind, and that my writing would be a reflection of Him. God has really blessed me with a great family, good friends, and an awesome opportunity to learn these past two semesters; I cannot stress that fact enough. After looking at everything He has given me, I really want to show my appreciation toward Him. To be honest, I do not know where He is going to lead me. My plan right now is to become a lawyer, but ten years from now I could end up becoming an author (I highly doubt it, though). Wherever He leads me in life, though, I want my writing to blossom, not for my own sake, but for His sake.

            My writing had a “seed” planted in the past, is beginning to grow in the present, and will hopefully blossom in the future. I pray that my writing ability will become twice what it is today. This past year God showed me an ability I never knew I possessed, and now I want to develop that ability to its fullest.

My Writing Strengths and Weaknesses

Dear Diary,

Alright, so, I wrote this a couple weeks ago, and I was positive I posted it....but I guess not. Here goes my third personal evaluation....


Love (always),

me <3

Analyzation and Creation

            Since becoming serious with my writing, I have noticed that I have many strengths and weaknesses. There are two major abilities and shortcomings that I think come out in my writing. I do realize that I am nowhere near a perfect writer, but I have improved greatly, even since the beginning of this class.

            Analyzation of a passage has not only become a strength in my writing for me, but also something fun. I am confident enough in my analyzation of passages that I do not sit there for hours and stare at a passage, trying to figure out its meaning. Once I begin to analyze, it sometimes gets sort of exciting too, which I guess is a strength in itself.

            I think that writing thesis statements is also a strength that I possess. When I write a thesis statement, I make sure that they are as clear as possible and that they are structured well enough to form a whole paper around. I cannot continue writing until my thesis statement is the best that it can be.

            Third, I think that my punctuation and grammar in writing are pretty strong. I have especially improved this year because of my AP English Language and Composition class. I love using semicolons; they add a lot of variety to an otherwise boring syntax. My mom has also always stressed the importance of grammar and punctuation, so I think I get it from her.

            While I have strengths, I also have many weaknesses. A large weakness I possess is with creative writing. It takes me at least twice as long to write a creative paper as it takes me to write an analytical paper. Thankfully we have not really had to write one for this class yet. It is pretty funny because my little sister is exactly the opposite. If I need an idea for a creative story, she spouts off a whole story within five minutes.

            Another weakness I have is writing in the passive voice. I have gotten better at fixing this since I have had a writing group helping me out, but it is still a work in progress. I am not sure why, but writing in the passive voice is a natural thing to me.

            Finally, another weakness I have is my usage of quotes. I always seem to either use too many, or not enough. Sometimes I think that quotes really help prove my point, so I insert a lot of them into a paper; sometimes I tend to ramble off on one part of a passage, so I only insert one quote. I need to focus on my usage of quotes and make sure that I use the correct amount.

            Overall, my writing always has room for improvement. I always appreciate every comment that I receive from a teacher or fellow student because I like knowing how I can make my writing even better. This class has definitely helped me improve my writing immensely, and I am very blessed to have an awesome teacher and great fellow students!

My Writing Habits

Dear Diary,

So, I wrote another Personal Evaluation for my AP Lit class...it's about, well, my writing habits (the title already gave away the secret! : P). Without further adieu....my paper, ladies and gents.

Love (always),

me <3

Food and Music

      My ideal set-up for paper writing is probably the opposite of what is thought to be an ideal set-up. On my desk, a glass and a can of Pepsi sit next to my flat-screen monitor to the left along with a pile of CD cases. A plate of pita chips and hummus are to the right of my monitor. As for me, you ask? I am sitting here with my metallic blue Skullcandy earbuds, which completely block out the tapping of the keys on my keyboard, and listening to one of my Youtube playlists.

            When I write a paper, you will always see food on my desk, and I mean always. It is weird, actually, because it helps keep me on track. It does not give me the excuse “…but Mom, I’m hungry” to get up from my computer. The downside to this is that the food itself can become distracting. So, eating food when I am writing a paper? It is probably not the greatest habit, but there are probably worse to have.

            Listening to music is the other main habit that I have while writing a paper. Music is not as distracting to me as you would think it to be. I actually think the music helps me concentrate; silence lets my mind wander. I keep it low enough so that it just becomes background noise and I keep my playlists on shuffle so that I do not have to keep pulling Youtube up to change the song. Listening to music while I am writing a paper? Well, it is probably not the best habit to have, but I think that as long as I am continuing to write, it is alright. Mind you, I would not pull out my iPod in the middle of the AP exam (you cannot bring them anyway), but it helps me concentrate when writing class assignments.

            Eating food and listening to music probably are not the most typical habits that come to mind when writing habits are thought about. However, they are two activities that help me keep on track while writing a paper. Although not the greatest habits, I am glad I have not formed worse habits than the ones I have.

My Writing History

Dear Diary,

Two posts in one night?! Crazy, right?! Don't get used it it, that's all I'm saying, haha. This is a paper that I just wrote for my AP Literature and Composition class about an experience that really helped me along with my writing. I had a lot of fun writing it, actually, and I hope you enjoy reading it (:

Love (always),

me <3

Cats and Cryonics

            Because I started reading when I was two, I started writing early, as well. However, I was not one of those kids that made up stories off the top of my head (my little sister did that enough for both of us, though). If you were to ask my mom if I was creative when I was younger, she would answer “no, not really.” I did not even like to color pictures in a coloring book; I would just scribble and then yell “DONE!” I would do the same thing with my writing assignments. I would just write something down to complete the assignment, without out really putting effort into it. Last school year is when I really started improving in my writing.

            Last school year I was enrolled in two writing classes at a homeschool study center. My first class was one of my favorite classes that year; my teacher gave great feedback specific to my writing style and paper, and walked me through each part of the writing process. If I did not understand something, she would gladly explain it to me until I understood it. It was in that class that my writing started to blossom.

            My second class, however, I had some problems with, to say the least. There were definitely some ups and down, so to speak. I did not really like the class that much, but the experience of it helped my writing, whether I want to admit it or not. My teacher would always have us write a timed essay at the beginning of every class on what seemed like the most random subject he could think of. Little did I know, however, that all of his timed essay assignments would help immensely in the close future.

 I did not get along very well with this teacher, but I tried to put a lot of effort into his assignments. Eventually, I started having a little bit more fun with the assignments since I figured out that he was not going to like me any better no matter how much I tried. I had a series of papers that were all about cats; they were about anything from giving a cat a bath to talking cats trying to take over the world. The biggest assignment for the year finally came around and we had to pick a subject that we knew absolutely nothing about. Instead of picking something normal, like snowboarding or skiing, I picked cryonics. Cryonics is “the practice of keeping a clinically dead human body or brain at an extremely low temperature in the hope of later restoring it to life.” I wrote about anything and everything under the topic of cryonics, from how they removed the heads from the bodies to how scientists believed they were going to bring the heads back to life. That was the first paper that really made me realize that writing can actually be fun and interesting, instead of simply something I was forced to complete for an assignment. After I finished that paper, I felt a sense of accomplishment.

            Finally, I give my dad a lot of credit for how far I have come in my writing. After coming home late from work, he would sit with me at the computer and help edit my writing. The best advice for writing he has given me is “do not simply write how you talk.” Before, my writing would be really scrambled with run-on sentences and different ideas all squeezed together. It was my dad who really taught me how to formally write a paper and I can never thank him enough for teaching me that.

Today, I no longer dread the words “writing assignment due this week.” Instead, I look forward to it because I know that I now have the ability to write, instead of simply throwing words on a page. As silly as it may sound, cats and cryonics opened up the world of writing to me and I can now see it in a whole new light. Both of my writing teachers and my dad really helped me come a long way in my writing ability, whether they know it or not.