Excitement

'Tis good to feel excited again! I could not wait to begin writing this evening. I just finished movie night with my friend, Erica, and, though I should be reading for my Economics class, am sitting here writing this.

During my brother's English lesson on Friday I flipped through my folder of compositions from my college freshman writing class. I was searching for a handout, or something with directions scribbled on them, demonstrating a format for "Summary/Reaction" papers. I found no such direction, nor hardly any other formal written instruction for that matter. I recalled that Dr. Clines taught purely from situational context. You must construct, critique, and refine your own work. Outside influences, rules, and other guidelines were only tools, not magic formulas, for making your writing relative to others.

His favorite tool was group sharing. With a class of only eight people, we had an ideal audience  for presenting our material. Every other week we would gather in a circle and one by one read aloud the draft we had prepared. Upon each conclusion we would wait in silence as each classmate filled out the "Positive/Negative/Questions" columns drawn on their notebook paper and wrote a brief summary of their overall impression of the work. These, along with a review in the same format by Dr. Clines, were passed to the presenter after each person shared their comments out loud. The only restriction placed upon our comments was that we were to discuss the writing, not the writer. We were blessed to be a class of gifted authors.

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April 1, 2010

I am returning to this post about a month after having begun the original draft. I am happy to report the excitement still remains! The art of writing still calms my soul and excites my spirit as my words help me to soar above my circumstances as I face them directly.

This past weekend, I finally read for my Economics class. I should not be surprised that it inspired questions and a discussion among my family that lead to a new prompt I wish to write about. Prompts seemed to come continuously this week. They have been duly noted on paper for future expansions in writing.

The experiences I gained in Dr. Clines' writing class prepared me to write fearlessly--to explore and disclose both truth and lies on paper. Though I cannot write on a daily basis, due to time constraints, I still write with a gunuine authority and interest.