Journal 1

When I think of writing, I am haunted with memories of sitting idly in front of a computer screen at 4:30 in the morning still trying to finish the paper that is due in 3 hours. So if procrastinating is a weakness for a writer/rhetor, that is definitely one of mine. It’s not that I can't write or refuse to write, I just take so long to articulate each sentence perfectly; so one or two sentences takes me twenty minutes. I usually have good direction and I use strong points with detailed evidence when critically writing or critiquing, but my overuse of vocabulary while trying to weave it into a scholarly argument sometimes makes my sentence structures confusing. Another reason my papers are sometimes hard to follow is because I do have so much to say, and I can't condense my thoughts well. I think continued drafting during free write sessions and outlining my papers will cut down the time it takes me to type my reports. I haven’t really had to write creatively, so I doubt I’m very good at that either, and we probably won’t get into creative writing in this course but the majority of books I enjoy have some sort of creative element to it, like the book I am currently reading, World War Z*. Those books probably appeal to me so much probably they are made into the best films, and my major is Film/Video in the Communication College. So developing my writing skills could also help me get a point across better visually. Last year, my English class was wicked difficult because of the high expectations my high-and-mighty teacher, so I first want to prove to myself that my writing is college polished, or at least how close I am to that. Further I want to really develop a commanding voice/style in my papers. Everything I have written has just been boring research and highly professional topic papers. I really want to make what I write sound more like what I say. I am almost never this uptight and serious, I really like to laugh and make others laugh, and if I could do that in a witty and sarcastic way that matches how I speak act, I’d be really happy. Watching The Daily Show with Jon Stewart* this summer and enjoying his satirizing of American society and politics made me truly admire their writers for their ability to take news coverage and turning it on itself in smart, but still easy to understand way. That is another skill I would like to improve on; making easy to understand points in an interesting way. At the end of writing my papers, I am usually confident I answered the prompt and provided a feasible thesis, but other than the teacher, I don’t think anyone would read my papers. So if I could practice and learn to cut down on my writing time, making my points clearer and more interesting, I will be very happy with my college English experience.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_Z

http://www.thedailyshow.com/full-episodes/tue-august-3-2010-will-ferrell