I liked the, write without using one vowel, task we did because it made me think of what I was writing more, I had to be more intentional with my wording and even think of words I would not normally use to try and not use the vowel u.
I also liked this exercise! It forced me to expand my vocabulary and think of all the different ways I could manipulate my sentence to not use that vowel. I took out the vowel “i” so that made it hard to put myself into the story I was writing.
I loved the drawing exercise where we drew a picture and then wrote a flash piece on it. it felt like it could turn into a little book of pieces with illustrations. i’m also an art minor though so I think im biased. As the class goes on I personally feel like there is an expectation to get better (which there is) but I think that is making it harder for me to feel comfortable sharing in class.
I thought opening up the option for the class to come up with a prompt was interesting, even if most of us were pretty indecisive. Writing about a song made me consider if every topic I write about has to be deeply personal and vulnerable or if I can just write about something I enjoy just for the sake of writing about it. I think it might be easier to write about deeper subjects because, implicitly, I have to think more about them but I also want to get better about writing joy and finding joy in writing (writing for the sake of writing, not for the sake of anything/anyone else?). This ties into the struggle of reading aloud in class, as I feel like it has become harder to talk in class the more that I think about writing for some reason.
This was my first full class and it was awesome getting to know everyone and the class! I am still trying to catch up and figure things out but I am having fun and learning a lot about literature ALREADY in just week 3! I loved the essays that we got to read in class. Leaving the prompt for us to choose what to do was interesting as well! I know it was quite hard to come up with something, but I am sure that later as we become more skilled writers we will be able to come up with a prompt quicker.
The discussion on how to combat writer’s block was a nice tangent that brought us to writing with music. Writing a flash essay on a song of our choice was a fun activity but was difficult for me to think of at first. I love music but every time I am asked on the spot to pick my favorite or most recent plays I freeze. The prompt not only challenged me in that way but also helped me discover more about what my favorite songs and how I react to them mean about me.
I found the readings for week 3 to be very powerful. I was particularly drawn to Jo Ann Beard’s “The Fourth State of Matter”. That essay stuck with me, and lines from it will randomly pop up in my head. I think I am navigating how to write about difficult topics in this class. Personally, my work tends to veer into those topics, even if I don’t anticipate it beforehand. A question that comes to mind is: How do you look at pieces about difficult subject matter objectively, as pieces of writing rather than the author’s heart on the page? What is lost and what is gained when you do so?
7 responses to “Week 3 Takeaways—02 Tuesdays”
I liked the, write without using one vowel, task we did because it made me think of what I was writing more, I had to be more intentional with my wording and even think of words I would not normally use to try and not use the vowel u.
I also liked this exercise! It forced me to expand my vocabulary and think of all the different ways I could manipulate my sentence to not use that vowel. I took out the vowel “i” so that made it hard to put myself into the story I was writing.
I loved the drawing exercise where we drew a picture and then wrote a flash piece on it. it felt like it could turn into a little book of pieces with illustrations. i’m also an art minor though so I think im biased. As the class goes on I personally feel like there is an expectation to get better (which there is) but I think that is making it harder for me to feel comfortable sharing in class.
I thought opening up the option for the class to come up with a prompt was interesting, even if most of us were pretty indecisive. Writing about a song made me consider if every topic I write about has to be deeply personal and vulnerable or if I can just write about something I enjoy just for the sake of writing about it. I think it might be easier to write about deeper subjects because, implicitly, I have to think more about them but I also want to get better about writing joy and finding joy in writing (writing for the sake of writing, not for the sake of anything/anyone else?). This ties into the struggle of reading aloud in class, as I feel like it has become harder to talk in class the more that I think about writing for some reason.
This was my first full class and it was awesome getting to know everyone and the class! I am still trying to catch up and figure things out but I am having fun and learning a lot about literature ALREADY in just week 3! I loved the essays that we got to read in class. Leaving the prompt for us to choose what to do was interesting as well! I know it was quite hard to come up with something, but I am sure that later as we become more skilled writers we will be able to come up with a prompt quicker.
The discussion on how to combat writer’s block was a nice tangent that brought us to writing with music. Writing a flash essay on a song of our choice was a fun activity but was difficult for me to think of at first. I love music but every time I am asked on the spot to pick my favorite or most recent plays I freeze. The prompt not only challenged me in that way but also helped me discover more about what my favorite songs and how I react to them mean about me.
I found the readings for week 3 to be very powerful. I was particularly drawn to Jo Ann Beard’s “The Fourth State of Matter”. That essay stuck with me, and lines from it will randomly pop up in my head. I think I am navigating how to write about difficult topics in this class. Personally, my work tends to veer into those topics, even if I don’t anticipate it beforehand. A question that comes to mind is: How do you look at pieces about difficult subject matter objectively, as pieces of writing rather than the author’s heart on the page? What is lost and what is gained when you do so?