by JJ

Created on: November 17, 2008

I wrote this as a reflective essay on my writing for my freshman english class in college. At the time I was very proud of it and thought it was cool. Now that I'm close to graduating with a B.S. in English Education, I find this essay kind of corny. It's interesting to me to look back on my thought processes from the past and see how I've changed and grown. I'm still not an excellent creative writer; but I still enjoy writing, even though I understand now that it might take me a lifetime to become a 'good' writer.

This is just a little glimpse into my thoughts while writing:

I like that, add it in. Definitely not that, this sounds neat, word it this way. Oh, no, I don't like that, take it out. Pick and choose, decisions, decisions. What to incorporate? How to organize these different ideas? Which voice is mine and which is mimicked? Is this really my best, or can I make it better?

I absolutely love reading! It is my favorite thing to do. I have read thousands of books in my lifetime. I have spent countless hours staying up all night reading because I can't stand to stop once I've started. When the fifth Harry Potter book came out, I started reading it the evening I got it and didn't stop until it was five in the morning and I had one chapter left. Similarly, when the sixth Harry Potter book came out, I started reading at eleven in the morning and didn't stop until I finished the book at eight o'clock that night. When I was thirteen years old, I read The Work and the Glory series by Gerald Lund in one month; once I got started, I couldn't stop. This past summer, I re-read all the Harry Potter books, I re-read The Chronicles of Narnia, I re-read The Lord of the Rings trilogy, I re-read Ella Enchanted, I read the Horatio Hornblower series by C.S. Forester, and I re-read several Agatha Christie books. I re-read Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, Northanger Abbey, and Persuasion by Jane Austen. I re-read A Christmas Carol, The Old Curiosity Shop, Bleak House, and A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens. I think that this sufficiently proves that I love to read and will read anything I can get my hands on.

I have always enjoyed being an avid reader, and I have always been glad that I was blessed with this talent. However, there is one drawback to having read so many different books; when I want to write something or have to write something for a class, I have trouble finding my own ideas and voice. I have so many different ideas from books and so many different

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