For me writing has always been a “safe haven”. Everyone has their own way of dealing with their thoughts, anger, or emotions and my way of doing so is getting it all out on paper. When I have a paper or an essay to complete I do not follow the typical “rules of writing” because the only way I can get everything out of my mind and onto the paper is to keep writing. Sometimes I will make little side notes or ideas, and other times I will write everything that I am thinking down on the paper and then fix things after.
After reading Metaphoric Musings for College it helped me realize that there are some rules that you do not need to follow while writing. Throughout junior high and high school many teachers have taught me different rules for writing. My eighth grade english teacher always gave us very specific “rules” and it made me hate writing more than anything in the world. She had a requirement of five to seven sentences in each paragraph and each sentence had to have at least eight words in it or we would get points off. Another teacher used to make her students avoid certain words. When teachers put many restraints on essays it has an impact on the way the students write. They then feel pressured to get a certain grade, or to focus on how many words are in the essay and then the students are taught to utilize writing only when it has a grade attached to it. That stressed me out so much and I stopped focusing on what I was supposed to be writing about, and started to only focus on how many words in a sentence I had. It wasn’t until high school that I realized I am a better writer if I write all my ideas and sentences down first, and then go back and fix things. That helped me out a lot because I then realized that there isn’t really a set rule on writing because you could have an amazing piece of writing without applying some of the rules that teachers have had us follow.
Also, another great point that the author made was explaining why the writers need to go into detail while explaining an object. I am a very visual learner and reader, for example when I am reading something I always have a mental image in my head of everything that is being read. The author mentioned to “show, don’t just tell” because for example, if I say “the little girl wore a coat”, it would be better to explain in detail what exactly that coat looks like because everybody reading that sentence is most likely picturing a completely different image in their head. However, if I say “the little girl wore a red and blue striped raincoat with black buttons going down the middle” the readers have the same mental image of what they are reading to themselves. Just as this author gave very helpful tips, I believe that by the end of this semester I will become a better writer and I will adapt new skills to enhance what I already apply to my work.