My Journey to Better Writing

People aren’t just born anxious writers; instead, they become so after being in an environment of negative experiences or struggles with writing. The uncertainty that my writing is not good, or not good enough, is not is something I am alone in. Many have gone through this. I didn't really know what to expect when I entered this course, or whether it would prove effective in guiding me through some of the difficulties in writing. Today, I can say that this course did eliminate many of the worries I had about writing a paper, as well as provide much more skills and confidence in my abilities before entering this course. Before I began this class, my goals were more than just to write better. I wanted to write more concise sentences, to avoid and improve my run-on sentences, to alleviate my extreme anxiety when it comes to grammar and being judged or criticized harshly, to learn how to correctly transform sentences and combine sentences to make them better, and lastly, to not overuse commas. In this short personal essay, I will focus and further discuss my writing flaws and explore how this course has led me on a journey to correct them.

Again, my first goal was to write more concise sentences. Primarily, I did not want the reader to have to guess what I was trying to say. I wanted it to be clear. When my writing is clear, I can be taken more seriously; that is what I wanted. We all want our writing to be a tool that can aid us, but without the ability to write clear and concise sentences, our writing will not appear as such a tool. Instead, my writing will be taken lightly, which is not what I want. Luckily, this course was able to provide me the guidance to write the type of sentences I wanted to write. One of the first things we learned in this course was how to understand a sentence which is ultimately the best first step. Even in the first week, while beginning to learn basic grammar and sentence structure, I already felt a sense of confidence. Ultimately, this was the foundation I needed to get to my goal.

Furthermore, my second goal was to avoid and improve my run-on sentences. The basic grammar and sentence structure exercises within the first few weeks did prove very helpful because frankly, the only way to truly improve run-on sentences is to practice. In this class, I was able to become better at observing my own work and finding these run-on sentences within my writing. But more importantly, I feel that what helped most is probably the clarity of the coursework and how much I was able to absorb the lessons effectively. With being able to do just that, I become more conscious of the process of writing. Though yes, I did have to go back and made edits, but I've always felt that writing is also re-writing, and the more you write and re-write the better you become at it. Now I am more confident in that process, and the need to edit has decreased. More importantly, through the process of editing, I no longer feel stressed out or confused as to what I should be editing.

Additionally, my third and fourth goal relate to my second goal. One of the hardest obstacles I had to overcome is my anxiety about my writing. I was both anxious about my grammar and anxious about how my writing will be judged and criticized. I've always felt extremely paranoid about whether or not my grammar was correct. I felt this way because I was unsure of proper grammar. Not being completely sure if was grammar was right made me anxious when writing. Being unclear and not confident in my grammar is what leads to the anxiety. I felt that I had a general idea of what is proper grammar, but I did not remember the rules as they were once taught to me, and therefore, I felt self-conscious about my grammar. Worrying about my writing being judged or criticized stems from many sources. I don't know if I honestly felt ashamed of my work, or that I would become defensive and feel threatened by someone else's opinion of my writing, but I definitely didn't like the idea of receiving feedback.

Moreover, my fifth goal was to learn how to correctly transform sentences and combine sentences to make them better. When I say better, I specifically mean having the ability to structure my sentences and guide them towards a specific purpose. I wanted to be able to make the correct choices in order to get my message across to the reader in the most effective manner. Techniques can be applied that will make sentences read less choppy and therefore more natural. This can be achieved by transforming specific sentences to sound better to the ear or combining them in different ways. These are concepts we learned in week two which honestly, at first, I had no clue how to do. I learned that a great way to transform and combine sentences to make them sound more natural was by reading more excellent writing!

Lastly, and most importantly, it is my goal to stop overusing commas. Commas are truly tricky in my opinion. Though I feel like I still may need a little improvement in this area, I feel like I have improved a lot. A great way to avoid throwing in too many commas is by not putting in commas when you feel there is a pause, but only when it is necessary grammatically. Re-reading, re-writing, and creating more drafts can really help with the overuse of commas.

Today, I am an entirely different writer. I am confident in my work and look forward to constructive criticism so I can become better. I no longer take comments as insults or deeply worry about them. I have gained so much confidence in my writing over this short period of time that I almost cannot believe I once felt so very afraid of my own written words. I am no longer scared that others will not take me seriously because of bad writing or that someone will not like what I have shared. The fundamentals I have learned in sentence structure, grammar, and style have and will aid me tremendously from here on out. I am excited to keep reading, writing, and re-writing to become better.

Work Cited

Kolln, Martha, and Robert Funk. Understanding English Grammar. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon, 1998. Print.