The Letter
Ravyn Granholm
WR121
The Letter
Dear Jess:
I’m just writing my letter to you. I like talking to you. Requirement filled.
My typed and deleted beginnings of this letter read:
Dear God (Ha Ha! Just kidding! I know you don’t exist!),
Dear God, Are You There? It’s Me, Margaret,
Dear Dad,
Dear Grandpa,
Dear Flying Spaghetti Monster,
Dear Me,
Dear My Roommate’s Cat,
Dear Jess.
So this’ll probably just go by much more painlessly and less contrived if I write to you. Besides, I have some qualms with my roommate’s cat, which probably don’t need to be read by anybody else.
Look at me go! I’m a choo-choo train of writing lately. That’s way cool. Like I said during our conference, I do find myself writing much more on my own time since I began your course. I like it. I’m beginning to like my writing more, as well.
I really have a fun time with the free writing at the beginning of class. I feel less pressure because I specifically have rules to speed along and not censor myself. This has helped me with personal and class writing as well. If I apply these rules to all manners of writing, I find that I am less hard on myself about being “right”.
I’m really looking forward to the second half of this course. For one thing, I would love to have a paper that I am impressed with. I want to impress myself! I can always amuse myself, for I am easily amused - especially by my weird brand of sarcasm. However, I’ve never really been blown out of the water by anything I’ve written. I have already gotten to the point where I am finding my writing to be valuable - quite a feat for me! Maybe I’m trying to jump the gun by expecting this amazing piece of writing to happen. But I am thinking it would be the next logical step.
For the most part, I have enjoyed the essays and reflections. I currently live on my friend’s couch though, and sometimes it can be absolutely impossible to study or read in silence. This is really frustrating and I’m sure affects my writing ability. I have a really hard time concentrating with external noise (as opposed to internal noise?).
I was surprised by The Revision assignment. I normally hate revisions! I feel like if I change something that it doesn’t reflect exactly how I felt at the initial moment of writing. I am editing my emotions! But this isn’t true. I was able to elaborate and actually remember more events because of the revision.
I had completely forgotten about my Fiddler On The Roof auditions and my plans to get out of doing dishes by adding too much soap. Had I not done the revision, who knows if those memories ever would have surfaced? Cool!
Anyhoo, I think I’m definitely between the comfort and panic zones. Sometimes I sway towards one side or the other, but for the most part I stay pretty much down the middle. I feel fairly confident then when I am asked to write in a style that reflects my personality that I can achieve that, as I don’t know any other way to write. The panic zone comes in to play with my Watcher (or Committee), comparing myself to who I would consider better writers in the class (Theresa is definitely one of them. I could eat her words for breakfast! They are so delicious!), and future-tripping about final grades. “Am I really doing as well as I think I am?” says my brain.
My letter to you is sort of a fragmented free-write. But I feel like I am the most honest when I let my words pour out faster than I can edit them.
I have appreciated everything I have learned thus far. I look forward to discovering more about myself as a writer and as a person as this course continues.
Thanks for reading! (And I’m really glad I decided NOT to write to my roommate’s cat!)
Ravyn
WR121
The Letter
Dear Jess:
I’m just writing my letter to you. I like talking to you. Requirement filled.
My typed and deleted beginnings of this letter read:
Dear God (Ha Ha! Just kidding! I know you don’t exist!),
Dear God, Are You There? It’s Me, Margaret,
Dear Dad,
Dear Grandpa,
Dear Flying Spaghetti Monster,
Dear Me,
Dear My Roommate’s Cat,
Dear Jess.
So this’ll probably just go by much more painlessly and less contrived if I write to you. Besides, I have some qualms with my roommate’s cat, which probably don’t need to be read by anybody else.
Look at me go! I’m a choo-choo train of writing lately. That’s way cool. Like I said during our conference, I do find myself writing much more on my own time since I began your course. I like it. I’m beginning to like my writing more, as well.
I really have a fun time with the free writing at the beginning of class. I feel less pressure because I specifically have rules to speed along and not censor myself. This has helped me with personal and class writing as well. If I apply these rules to all manners of writing, I find that I am less hard on myself about being “right”.
I’m really looking forward to the second half of this course. For one thing, I would love to have a paper that I am impressed with. I want to impress myself! I can always amuse myself, for I am easily amused - especially by my weird brand of sarcasm. However, I’ve never really been blown out of the water by anything I’ve written. I have already gotten to the point where I am finding my writing to be valuable - quite a feat for me! Maybe I’m trying to jump the gun by expecting this amazing piece of writing to happen. But I am thinking it would be the next logical step.
For the most part, I have enjoyed the essays and reflections. I currently live on my friend’s couch though, and sometimes it can be absolutely impossible to study or read in silence. This is really frustrating and I’m sure affects my writing ability. I have a really hard time concentrating with external noise (as opposed to internal noise?).
I was surprised by The Revision assignment. I normally hate revisions! I feel like if I change something that it doesn’t reflect exactly how I felt at the initial moment of writing. I am editing my emotions! But this isn’t true. I was able to elaborate and actually remember more events because of the revision.
I had completely forgotten about my Fiddler On The Roof auditions and my plans to get out of doing dishes by adding too much soap. Had I not done the revision, who knows if those memories ever would have surfaced? Cool!
Anyhoo, I think I’m definitely between the comfort and panic zones. Sometimes I sway towards one side or the other, but for the most part I stay pretty much down the middle. I feel fairly confident then when I am asked to write in a style that reflects my personality that I can achieve that, as I don’t know any other way to write. The panic zone comes in to play with my Watcher (or Committee), comparing myself to who I would consider better writers in the class (Theresa is definitely one of them. I could eat her words for breakfast! They are so delicious!), and future-tripping about final grades. “Am I really doing as well as I think I am?” says my brain.
My letter to you is sort of a fragmented free-write. But I feel like I am the most honest when I let my words pour out faster than I can edit them.
I have appreciated everything I have learned thus far. I look forward to discovering more about myself as a writer and as a person as this course continues.
Thanks for reading! (And I’m really glad I decided NOT to write to my roommate’s cat!)
Ravyn