Journal Three: Shitty frist draft!

When I try to write papers or anything at all, just knowing where to start is the hardest thing for me. I attempt to write my first draft like if it was my final draft. I try to make the first draft perfect because I feel need to get it right the first time and to just be done with it. This is my problem through out my whole career of writing. I need to just go against my natural want and need to get things right the first time and just type away just start somewhere. If I follow the process of just writing anything down just to start the paper, I would be better off than my past ways of writing papers perfect the first time. Having a shitty first draft is fine according to this book by Anne Lamott. So for now on, I will use this process of writing shitty first drafts to maybe finish writing my paper faster because before I would waste my time staring at the computer screen trying to think of the perfect idea and trying to just know how to start. I like the way the author relates the first draft as a child. She said let your first draft should be like a child because you know no one is going to see it so you can let everything come out and let it go all over the place because you know you can fix it later.

If I would to grow up to be a professional writer, it would have to be either about sports or about food because those r the things I know best. The author of this book wrote food reviews for some California magazine. She would wait to one of the last days to start writing her work and if she could not think of something right away to put down on the paper, she would panic. I can relate to this because when I cannot think of how to start a paper I would go in to a downward spiral. When I can think of anything to write down I start thinking about how much time I am wasting and then all the consequences that will happen if I do not finish this paper. So basically things just get worse and worse as time goes on because I stop thinking of the task at hand and start thinking about everything else.

I can relate to the fact that people think professional writers just sit down and make perfect products right away because I use to think that professional authors did that. I even felt that most of my classmates wrote papers with ease. Writing is very hard for me due to the fact that it is so hard for me to get my ideas down on paper. After reading this chapter on shitty first drafts, I have learned that writing the first draft of a paper is not about the product it is about the process. This means the first draft can be bad because the first draft is about just getting started and getting the ideas down on paper so more ideas can flow in and complete the paper.

Journal Two: Memoir

An item becomes meaningful when a person puts sentimental value behind it. David Giffels gives and example of this in “Shirt-Worthy”.  In David’s case, when he was a kid, he felt that to wear rock and roll shirt you had the earn it. In order to have credibility, one had to experience the emotions and feel how epic a concert is. This story is relevant because his son wanted the same band shirt David wanted to earn, but his son just wanted the shirt because he liked it. David states the times have changed and kids these days will not struggle because things you use to have to earn now are easy to get. As a father you do not want your kids to struggle through life, but you kind of want them to because the struggles and how they over come the problems makes a person who they are.

The audiences that this story was made for are parents that can relate and young adults that can learn a lesson from this story. There maybe a couple points David is trying get across in this story. One point is things are worth a lot more when you earn them and put sentimental value behind it. Another, point of this story maybe that values have change from generation to generation and it might be hard to pass a parent’s values and morals to the children who are growing up in a different world.

The writer used rhetorical devices pretty well in this story. David described his feeling well enough that I can feel where he is coming from and understand his emotions. He explains the shirts meaning when he was a kid that I can see the reactions from other kids if he wore a Ramones shirt. The writer used the flashback in time to help explain the story well. Also, the transition from the past to the relevant event was great.  The writer showed pathos he each event in his story. In the flashback, he brought up forgotten feelings the he had as a kid. In the present event with his kid, he expressed regret for getting his child the shirt that he never earned. In the story, ethos is also shown when David explains his values behind a rock and roll shirt.

I would like to be able to explain the event my memoir with the same feeling to make the reader feel the same emotions as I did. I would like to incorporate the same hook in the introduction and have the just as smooth transition from different time periods in my memoir. 

journal one

Writing is definitely not my best skill, but I would consider myself average when it comes to writing. As a writer, I am good at organizing the paper in logical order because I am more of a logical thinker. Another strength that I have is being able to argue any side of debate by using the skilled called "BS"ing. A weakness I have is that I am a very bad speller. I also have poor researching skills, which are used for many types papers.

As a writer, I would like to improve on the effectiveness of my wording to get the point across more clearly. I need to practice on transitions and flow from idea to idea in my papers. I also need to develop a style of writing for myself so I stick out from everyone else’s work. To learn how to improve my writing I can read more books especially books with different styles so I can observe other writers methods of presenting their story. I can also just practice writing papers and have other people such as a professor to give me feed back on how to improve. In this course, I believe that I will learn numerous skills to improve my writing. I will study the rules of proper grammar. This course will challenge my skills in writing by making me write many different types of papers, which broadens my versatility. I anticipate that my Professor will help improve my weaknesses in my writing through in class practice.

The book Catcher in the Rye inspired me to be a better writer.http://www.catcherintherye.com/ This book style and story line inspired me to start writing my thoughts down in a journal. The author is J.D. Salinger wrote this book and it was put on the banned books list for some schools. This book helped me see different ways to think about many things in life. My philosophy for life is not based on the ideas in the Catcher in the Rye, but the way I think now has changed after reading this book. I believe writing has to do a lot with the way people think and this book has influenced my thinking process. Another item that change the way I view things is a couple of songs by the band Built to Spill. Their songs explain the views on different parts of life. One of their songs is called “Strange” and this song in one of my favorites of theirs. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRFOjLIl7G0 Another thing that inspired me to write better is the book titled The Things They Carry. This book did not change the way think, but it showed me a new way to present a story. In this book, a narrative story is told through a unique style that I really liked. I never read a book with a similar method of presenting a story. This book helped me to start to produce my own style of writing that is unique. In this course, I hope to find my style and become a better writer overall with improved skills and effectiveness.