Writing
Writing can be a challenge, mainly because I am not used to writing consistently. Besides, even experienced people in writing can also face difficulties. I face challenges depending on the subject I am writing about. My writing journey is no different from others, especially bearing in mind I had difficulties in the beginning. At first, it seemed a simple task that any person aware of the basic language structures can do. However, the ideology above did not last after I took a pen and a paper to write something out of random inspiration. The ideas kept flowing in my mind. I thought about my past life experiences, childhood moments, daily discoveries, and the constant changing technology. The problem was penning down the first sentence. I spent a lot of time thinking about the words to put the random inspiration in my mind on a piece of paper. Not until I mastered the courage to write the words that immediately popped into my mind did my exclusive writing journey began. The outcome of the first piece of writing held a promise that glory awaited me if I took the chance to explore this newfound treasure.
As days passed, I became more interested in writing down every bit of inspiration that happened to cross my mind. Several weeks of practice and I was on a whole new level than I was during my beginning. My writing form had drastically enhanced thanks to constant practice and reading books, which had boosted my grammar, among other important writing components. My confidence increased and I mastered the art of free writing. For example, if a thought of plight of women in the society crossed my mind, I would start writing about the issue. I stopped overthinking and overanalyzing a topic before writing. I noticed that free writing increased flow of ideas and made the written pieces more engaging to readers.
However, all was not well until I came across a new challenge. The challenge was none other than writing my academic papers, such as reports and other writing genres that are not narrative. I could not believe I was facing a similar situation that I had experienced when I set out on my creative writing journey. I lacked words to start the first sentence and ways to relay my ideas into one paper. For example, I remember one paper concerning writing an annotated bibliography of peer reviewed articles about wildfires on the west coast. My mind was a mixture of worry, confusion, and utter desperation, especially because my grade was at stake. Pressure built up and the confidence gained concerning mastering the art of writing vanished. It consumed every bit of concrete reasoning I would have used to write a good paper. Perhaps I would have saved a significant amount of my final grade if I had previously diversified my writing skills. By the time I handed over my assignment, I had managed to write a substantial amount of words though it was an overwhelming experience.
I reflected on the above experience and drew several lessons. First, writing is not just a simple task that one can easily do. It is a skill that requires constant improvement through frequent reading, writing, and research. The actions would enhance one’s vocabulary and knowledge that enable an individual write engaging papers. Secondly, proficiency in writing depends on the area of specialization. There are various genres of writing, such as technical, narrative, and expository, among others. All these genres have their set of rules that writers follow to create quality work. Becoming proficient in one genre does not guarantee proficiency in other genres. Besides, becoming proficient in writing, one needs to learn from others.
After the assignment, I was quick to inquire about crucial details concerning technical forms of writing from students who seemed good at it. I also asked my tutor how to write quality technical academic papers. Currently, my proficiency level has not reached the peak bearing in mind that technical writing require adequate time and practice to master the art.