Part A :
My writing identity prior to this course was an individual that dreaded writing, to be honest. I was a person that would rather write a piece in a critical perspective rather than taking a creative approach. I would be really reluctant when it came to writing a piece that was more personal or carving a story of my own. That is one of the reasons why I decided to take this course, and I can truly that my confidence has increased immensely when it comes to writing creatively.
Throughout this course, I have taken notice that my writing has drastically changed in the sense that I had stepped out of my comfort zone and ventured into different styles of writing. I wrote about concepts that were foreign to my writing such as; spreading awareness of issues within society and personal stories that I wouldn’t normally share with my peers. I also began to use different sentence structures such as complex sentences; however I also began to use simple sentences, which enhances the overall message that is being conveyed. to solidify my idea. Similes and metaphors have also made their way into my writing as they help solidify my ideas.
The genre of my writing has shifted incredibly through out these past 5 months. I began to sink into my past, and enlighten my readers the adversities I had to overcome, in order to become the individual I am today. Then I began to delve in romance, friendship, and various other aspects in my life that hold significance. Death has also slipped into my writing and the concept of betrayal as well. Overall, I would say 
that my genre mainly revolves around topics that I would feel most reader would relate to.
The ideas and details that are pieced through my writing, have come from my experience in life thus far. Every time I learn a valuable lesson in my life, I have the desire to put those experiences into words. I feel as though when I do this, I can show others what I learned through these phases in my life and used it towards my benefit. Hopefully, this could spark some motivation and inspiration for everyone that reads my writing.
When it comes to my structure, I tend to play with how I would like my message to look to the reader and try to get that message across the most efficient way. I sometimes write formally, and get straight to the point. Other times, I tend to go on a rant and my writing seems more informal. The same could be said about my voice and style. At times, I have the voice in my writing that invites comfort and it makes my reader feel as though they are just chatting times. On the other hand, there is times where my voice has a bit of assertion in it when it comes to me advocating for something I believe. An example of this is shown in my featured article, that explores sexism.
GUMPS have been a major issue in my writing unfortunately. One efficient technique that I have learned to adapt is, reading my writing out loud to pick out these errors. I am still getting used to using this technique, as I haven’t used it in previous years, but when I do use it, it makes a significant difference.
A piece of advice I would give to future creative writers, is to write about circumstances in life that have hurt them the most and turn it into something beautiful. Although this could trigger unwanted thoughts, at the same time it can almost be therapeutic, and also help someone else that is reading your work. Another piece of advice that I would like to share is to not be afraid of receiving feedback. Any feedback is beneficial feedback, whether it is criticism or praise, in the end it will help your writing skill in the long run.
My future goal for writing is to continue doing it. I used to write in a journal before this class, but I had stopped due to my busy schedule. I really want to continue to this journal because, not only does it allow you to practice writing everyday, but it also showcases your growth over a period of time as well.
Part B:
At first, I hated working on my blog and everything that had to do with it. But as I gradually started to share pieces that I was proud, I began navigating my way through this site. I was intrigued on how I could accentuate my writing by making changes on the outlook of my blog. For an example, I have never realized how adding a visual to your writing, can set the overall tone of your piece.
Some positives about my blog are that I have an overall theme, which is the truth about my life and beliefs. I always have my work organized in such a way, that it tells a journey of my life and where I stand. Some things I would like to improve is the aesthetics of my blog. I would like to achieve a look that I am content with, and truly represents my authentic self.
After this course, I will use my blog as to a way to reflect on my past and to thrive for my future. I would like to continue to post small poems, rants, or anything that I am really passionate about. The students I would like to continue to follow are Katherine, Genevieve, and Carmen. The reason I have picked these students is because their writings never fails to amaze me, and whenever I scroll through their blog I am always astounded by hard work.
Part C:
One “Aha” moment that I had this semester is when we went to the elderly home, spoke with elders, and finally having the privilege write a piece to reflect their life. This journey with the elders has sparked my this desire of mine to cherish our elders. It made me come to the realization that our elders have a lot of stories that are often left untold, and these stories have valuable lessons that we could apply to our own lives. Another “Aha” moment I had during this class, is that I could emulate a line from another author’s piece and carve that into my own. An example of this was shown in my piece, “Time Flies”, where I emulated a line from “On Looking Ahead”, by Gus Barrett.
As a reader, the book I plan to read next is And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini. The best book I have read this semester was A Thousand Splendid of Suns by Khaled Hosseini. Reading improved my writing immensely, because I used techniques that I’ve seen other authors use, and I try to incorporate those in my writing as well.
One of the things I have accomplished as a writer is learning how to effectively organize my writing into distinct paragraphs, rather than having huge chunks of writing.
Part D:
For my Writer’s Seminar, my group chose Kristin Hannah as our author. I am glad we chose this author because, Kristin
Hannah really introduced me to novels that revolve around a historical event and has the common theme of strength and women power. If I could choose a different author, I would choose Khaled Hosseini for the simply reason that, I fell in love with his writing more than ever this year. His use of imagery is so efficiently used that the reader could play a movie in their head.
The reason why I’m a huge fan of her writing is because she uses simile and metaphors to show the contrast of her and the Barbie. I always really like how throughout her writing, she uses distinct adjectives that just enhance her piece. For an example, in this piece she wrote “swamp coloured eyes” rather than just “green eyes”.
Katherine’s writing has been one of my highlights this semester. Just listening to what she could come up within five minutes, will always leave me in utter shock. I admire the way she always uses the concept of death into her writing and isn’t afraid to twist and play around with it. Although her writing style is something I could never adapt, reading her writing always gets my mind thinking and chills running down my spine. In this piece, it’s amazing how she used a rhyme scheme so effortlessly throughout her poem.
One thing I always enjoyed about Aaron’s writing is that when I read it, I can actually hear him saying these things to me. His voice is so distinct in his writing, especially in this piece of writing. “Tongue like knives, you slashed the strings of innocence and purity…”, this line really shows the passion he has when it comes to writing his piece. I have come to notice that, Aaron always gives his work 110% effort and dedication which is why he such a brilliant writer.
Part E:
Sexism Portrayed in India- Featured Article:
The reason why I chose this as my title is because I feel as though it truly sums up the main focus of this piece, and what i was advocating for throughout the article. At first, I was going say “Asia” rather than ‘India”, but then I realized it would’ve been misrepresenting my whole piece. I explore how sexism is portrayed in India and how that perspective has shifted to North America. My purpose to right this piece was to enlighten girls and boys my age, as well as parents, of how the impact sexism can have on an individual. I also mentioned in my article how I believe we should all strive for equality. My upbringing and my culture has inspired to bring this piece to life, because I had faced a lot of sexism over the years. One style decision I made was something I would never had thought of doing, which was including a script. My teacher had given me the idea and I was a bit reluctant before, but it seemed to have worked perfectly. I had to revise this piece because it was becoming quite extensive, so I had to cut down a lot of unnecessary information.
The title of this piece is “Fear.” and the significance of this title is how I overcame fear in my past years. I write a letter to my past self, explaining how using her fears can strengthen her. My purpose to write this piece was because I wanted to show myself how much I endured over the past years, to become who I am today. The “Letter to Past Self” activity in class had inspired me to write this piece. A style decision I made was to incorporate the theme of fear towards the end of the letter, and tie that into the advice I was giving to my past self. An epiphany I had was realizing that I could use onomatopoeia in my writing to make it lively.
