Writing Autobiography

My first experience with writing occurred on some god awful day in elementary school when I was given my first writing assignment, most likely a book report of some sort.  Reading summaries or “how I spent my summer vacation”-type essays would make up the rest of my writing experiences until I entered junior high and discovered the “research paper.”  The research paper was almost like a book report, except it usually involved reading several books about one particular topic and then combining that information into one cohesive paper about whatever your topic was.  Then came the “critical analysis” paper, where my task was to analyze what some one else had written on a certain topic and then argue for or against the point they were trying to make.  As you can see, the majority of my experiences with writing have been mandatory assignments that I’ve never really care for.

            Although my attitude toward writing hasn’t improved all that much since my first book report, I have found ways that have improved my writing experience.  Some of those ways have to do with technology.  In junior high and even a little bit of high school, I would actually have to check out books from a library to do research.  Now it’s as simple as going to Google Scholar to find legitimate sources.  I also used to dread putting together a works cited page but now I can just type it into a an online MLA formatted works cited generator that does it for me.  One big help that didn’t involve technology was just learning and utilizing the basic format of a research paper; knowing where to put the thesis statement in an intro/conclusion, summarizing your topic, and organizing support paragraphs.  Even though I’ve never enjoyed writing these types of papers, these little tools have helped me get decent grades on the papers I write.

            Even though I detest the mundane and tediousness of most research based writing, I have enjoyed some forms of creative writing.  Throughout high school and most of college I didn’t have much experience with creative writing except for the occasional lesson in poetry which I never really cared for.  When I attended Montgomery County Community College, I took a scriptwriting course that I actually ended up liking.  At first, it was hard getting used to the format but once I began to figure that out I actually began to look forward to the different assignments.  It was nice being able to use my own ideas and imagination instead of just summarizing and analyzing a bunch of shit that other people had written.  Then, in another class I got to write a concert review and once again I found myself enjoying the art of writing.  Being able to just write down my own thoughts and feelings on a topic that I care about made me want to become a better writer.

            This past semester I had the opportunity to write in several different formats during the course of the Writing Workshop course I enrolled in.  These formats included, writing for broadcast news, business letters, interview/profile writing, critiquing, scriptwriting, and research papers.  For the most part, the course reinforced my pre-existing opinions of writing but in some areas my opinions changed.  For instance, even though I am still not a fan of the research paper, during class discussion I realized there were ways to add some creativity to a what I perceived as a bland form of writing.  This helped me in approaching my research paper with a little more enthusiasm that I normally would.  I also found the broadcast writing to be fun in a challenging sort of way.  It seemed to be kind of like a puzzle where you had to find the most important information in a pile of useless information and then find a way to coherently and briefly put it together.

            I still believe that the only writing I could ever see myself doing for leisure or for fun would be the kind that revolves around storytelling.  I enjoyed the scriptwriting assignment because a) it didn’t involve research and citing sources and b) because it allowed me to make a situation up out of thin air that could possibly provide someone else with entertainment.  I believe my preference of writing styles reflects the literature that I enjoy reading, which is mainly journalism (Hunter S. Thompson-esque), music/movie reviews, and science-fiction novels.  So basically, I just have a hard time writing stuff that I wouldn’t otherwise enjoy reading.

Even though I have found certain types of writing enjoyable, I don’t usually do any writing outside of school assignments but this class, along with overall boredom, has helped me consider keeping a journal.  Last summer, I did begin to outline a book that I would like to try and turn into a script but I eventually lost focus and haven’t made much progress since.  Since I write music I will occasionally work on lyrics but I’ve always been more focused on the musical aspect of songwriting.  So for the most part, writing has always been something I only associate with school but lately I have been trying to incorporate it into my everyday life.

One of the hardest aspects of writing for me has always been just getting started.  Writing that first sentence, or figuring out a thesis statement, or figuring out an outline, for some reason has always been my least favorite parts.  Whenever I’m into a paper and know what I’m talking about, I don’t have much trouble.  It’s just the beginning of each step that makes me stumble.  My favorite part is coming up with a creative way to say something.  Knowing that I found a way to express a though as cleverly as possible always makes me happy when I’m writing.

Since I’m not exactly sure what it is I’ll end up doing professionally, it’s hard for me to say how writing will fit into my life but I guess I’ll just pretend I got my ideal job of producing music.  In this case, I’ll have to be in communication with musicians so I’ll have to know how to descriptively describe sounds and professionally give opinions on different music.  I’d also like to become better at writing informally.  I’ve always felt I’m pretty good at expressing myself verbally but have a hard time transferring even my most basic thoughts and opinions onto paper.  Basically I’d like to reach a point where I’m just as comfortable expressing myself with a pencil or keyboard as I am with my vocal-chords.