In this course I learned a lot about being a writer and what it means to be a writer. I really loved how my professor taught this course. I wish that I gave 110% into this course because it was very workload heavy. I have so many ideas that I could say out loud but it was so hard for me to write on paper. It was hard to be vulnerable, especially in the non-fiction piece that I wrote, because it’s hard to share your work for other people to read, when you think it’s private. I also learned a lot by allowing other people to give you feedback. That part was very scary when you have to read out loud in front of a group of people that I don’t even know as well. However, it was a great experience to have as a writer because reading those words out loud was very personable. It felt good knowing that I made others entertained or relatable. 

 My favorite part was the poetry section, that’s why I thought about taking this creative writing class. I love how you can have different interpretations of words and how to make people feel things by using a description. Like something so simple, describing a cup. I love how I wrote things that made me happy. My favorite poem was the setting heavy poem where I was vulnerable talking about my relationship with my mom and my relationship with cooking. Sometimes, I forget about the little things that mean so much to me. I remember my passion was cooking and memories of the quality of family time. It is very easy to overlook moments in your life that’s valuable. That prompt where I had to think of a place, made me reminisce about the details that I love about my life.  For example, “To the times of being in Harlem in the summer getting a two dollar icy and the moments I play Spanish music with my mom in the kitchen.” Those moments make you realize that it is worth living. I was very stuck on finding these prompts in the beginning. Every time in class I couldn’t think of something in those sections when we had to write.

I feel like I always have to write something that I think it’s good for others to hear. I love the assignment we did in class with the professor. We write all the things we are scared of that make us not want to write. Then afterwards we write. “I will write at the end of the sentence.”   and that’s stuck with me. I have so many fears of sounding stupid in front of everyone sharing something that’s valuable to me. Or having grammar mistakes in my writing so other people could judge me thinking that I’m not smart enough. And after we wrote that paper I will write it gave me confidence because I never had someone to teach the importance of to still write and having something down on paper forgetting about the fear of judgment.

 It was also hard to find a prompt that you could write about so many pages or find interesting. For example, The fiction piece that we did I knew I wanted to write a love story. Then once I continued on writing I thought it was so good until I had feedback from my professor like my classmates that they felt like it wasn’t enough love. Then it made me question myself if I know how to write a love story. From my experiences that I see people in relationships it’s always arguments but they do alway love each other. Then I started thinking, “How can these characters be more believable?” My professor told me, you’re not going to love someone who always starts arguments like it happens gradually. So with this suggestion, I added more romance like having my character Prasad find out to see his girlfriend and breakfast for the kids at the nonprofit. That fiction piece was the most difficult writing I created. I wanted to make my character feel real and pop out the paper. The different suggestions I added from the mini assignments was dialogue to my final piece. Adding dialogue made my characters seem more believable especially to express the love they have for each other using compassionate words. Honestly, writing these two characters I wanted a perfect fairytale. Then I had to ask myself what is a perfect fairytale. Is it where she gets the man and is happy and runs away together? Then I realized that I created the story and I wanted the girl to leave and not need a man because I didn’t want to play out the story where she needs him to have a happily ever after. Like my main characters happily ever after was to have her own ballet program in Harlem and she got distracted with unhealthy love. Sevan’s Toxic Love Story was the hardest piece to write because you have to know how to end the story. I wish I could improve the story in so many ways. Like I added details to the final draft about how he cheated with a Victoria’s Secret model instead of just his friend. I feel like for fiction it’s always a work in progress because it’s your own imagination.

Last of all the question is how effectively and sufficiently I revise and edit my three major essays? I feel like I didn’t take feedback or editing very seriously until the end of the course. My previous mindset was that once you write for the first time. It should be the best work that you’re handing in. I believe writing is subjective because I felt multiple times that I handed in my draft. It was the best work that I gave in. Then my professor had a conversation with me saying I should’ve handled my work sooner so she could give me the feedback. 

I was so worried about what to write on paper because I treated my first draft like a final draft. I did not want to make any edits or any changes once I submit my work. I feel like that was a struggle with me throughout this whole entire class because all I wanted to submit was good work. I was proud of my work that I submitted but what it means to be a writer is listening to Feedback and choosing if you want to take the criticism into consideration. If I listen to feedback sooner my work would be so much better. For example with the haiku’s, that was a struggle because I thought I could write five different haiku‘s. Until I had received feedback about having a story and a character so it can flow. That made me go into a different mindset and produce creative poems. This class is so interesting and helps me grow. I wish I had better time management in this course. That would only take my writing further. Thanks professor for having patience with me as well.