Feelings About Writing

Writing to me is something that is necessary in communication and

literature as a whole. I personally do not like to write that often. When I am
given a writing assignment in school, the first thing that comes to my head
is, Ugh, a writing assignment. After that, I immediately jump to thinking
about how long this writing assignment is going to be and how long it is
going to take me to do. I just dont seem to think positively about writing. I
also dont like to write about specific subjects. I always hated taking the SAT
because of the writing prompts. They were very critical of your writing no
matter how good you thought it was. When a teacher also asks to write
about a topic that doesnt interest me or has no personal value or meaning
to me I generally do very poorly on the assignment and wait till the last
minute to do it. However, if there is a topic of interest or a topic that I can
put my own emotions and thinking into then I will have a better attitude
writing the paper and the paper will seem more real. I also dont like writing
for how people are so analytical of all the small grammatical and spelling
errors. I like doing more informal writing, so I dont always know how to
phrase some things or when to use a semi colon or a comma. I just
remember that the bulk of my English classes were to help students
understand when to use different grammatical structures and how they can
make a difference when using them in sentences. I always hated having to
do those trivial exercises to work on grammar and punctuation as I still dont
use them in my writing today, and I still dont know how to use those

grammatical processes correctly. The only time that I think I have felt happy
or good about writing was when one of my English teachers in High School
told the students to write about something that really evoked emotions in
the students. This was the only paper that I was really passionate about and
the only paper I actually enjoyed.
My Writing Process
I would consider my writing process to be improvised. My writing is
typically random and just comes from the top of my head. For example, this
entire paper will probably just be from the top of my head and I will write the
first things that come to my mind. I typically dont plan out or strategize how
to go about my writing. There isnt much brainstorming other than picking
topics to talk about and what my thesis or opening statement should be.
Otherwise all of my writing just seems to flow. Since I only like typing
emotional papers or personal paper I dont think about the research and the
facts about the subject. If I do have to make a research paper, then I will
typically pick out all of my topics and decide how they fit and flow best in a
certain order. After I finish a draft, I will usually give my draft to my Mom
because she always gives me good feedback. I will then create a final and
then turn the paper in. My writing differs between school, different subjects
and home. When I write school papers I usually have to follow a rubric and
meet certain criteria. I also tend to pay a little more attention to pay more
attention to the grammar of the paper to make sure I dont get any points
off. In comparison, when I write papers at home, usually jus to present an

idea to a group of friends or an informal writing, I just write how I feel about
the subject. Most of the time, I am given a subject to write about. I very
rarely just write to write because, as I have said before, I really dont like
writing. I also find it difficult to write different things. Formal papers, for
example, are the hardest things to write because they require more thinking
and planning than say a text or a personal blog. Emails are easy for me
because you just have to make sure that you arent being rude or using
slang. Every email should be structured like it would be for the president. All
in all, my writing process is very unorganized and mostly personal, whenever
I do write that is.
Worst Reading Experience
One of the worst reading experiences that I had as I was growing up
was probably reading a required book for one of my English classes in High
School. I hated the book so much that I really dont remember what the book
was. I just remember that I never wanted to do the homework and I always
tried to get the homework from one of my friends instead of doing it myself.
The experience was negative just because the book didnt interest me and I
couldnt find any motivation or need for reading the book. I didnt understand
how reading this boring book benefited me at all. The genre and the material
that was being covered by reading the book was supposed to be covered in
the curriculum, however, it just took so long to cover the material I began to
grow weary of the book. Whenever we were asked to talk about the book as
a class, I never raised my hand or participated in the group reflections. When

the class would get put into groups to talk about the chapters that were
assigned the night before, I would usually either say I didnt get to finish and
not participate, or I would talk about how boring the book was and that I
really just didnt care about sharing my readings or discussion. This negative
experience taught me bad habits as a reader. As time went on, if there was a
book assignment for a class I would always try to look for a summary of the
chapters or borrow someone elses homework to copy it down really quickly.
The experience mainly taught me how to do as little work as possible and
still understand and be able to talk about the book when there was a class
discussion. I also think that this experience developed a negative
connotation towards reading as I became less and less enthusiastic about
books and reading in general, unless it was from a series that I really enjoyed
or a genre that kind of caught my attention. After this experience I dont
think Ive taken a reading assignment very seriously.
Feelings About Reading
When someone asks me about reading, the first thing I always respond
with is Im not a big reader or I dont really read. Its true I dont really like to
read as I feel there are better ways to spend my time than just staring at
something thats written in a book and, most of the time, isnt even real.
When Im given a reading assignment in school my first thoughts are to
figure out the easiest way to complete the book and gain an understanding
of it without actually having to read the book. Throughout all of my schooling
there is only one book that I actually enjoyed and continued the series with.

That was the book Enders Game. I think that I feel this way mainly
because I just get so bored with reading unless it is a genre or a series that I
truly like. I generally spend my time outside playing sports or inside playing
video games. I dont see how reading really helps me in life applications
other than learning the meaning of a couple of bigger words and increasing
my vocabulary. As an engineer however I need to create something that
everyone can understand, not just the people with a large vocabulary. I dont
specifically remember the first time that I didnt enjoy reading. However,
there was a time when I loved reading. The only reason that I really loved
reading was because of how competitive I was. I always wanted to be taking
the most advanced classes in middle school to show that I was smarter than
everyone. Also, in elementary school, every week there was a reading
comprehension test that students had to take. I always wanted to score the
highest and take the test the fastest so I practiced my reading to make sure
that happened. After all the students started to level out in reading skill I just
got bored of reading and didnt care as much as I used to. I still believe that I
am a good reader and have a pretty expansive vocabulary, I just dont care
to spend my time free reading books anymore.
My Reading Process
I dont have a process to reading. Much like my writing process, I just
jump into the book and start to read. I dont typically do any background
research on the author or the book to see what its about. Half the time I
dont even read the little summary they provide that tells you a little about

the book. When I come across something I dont know in a book like a large
word I dont really look up the word unless I cant understand the sentence
without the word. I can usually figure out the meaning of the word just from
some context clues. I also dont really talk about the books that I read unless
Im required to in a class discussion. I will sometimes use the book as a point
of conversation if someone else has read it and I really liked the book.
Otherwise I dont really talk about the books that I read, the very few that I
have. I dont think I have ever annotated a book for the fun of it. I dont like
dissecting books and trying to interpret all the different things the author is
trying to say. I take what the author says for its literal meaning and then I
create a picture and play out the entire book in my head as I read. My
reading process is extremely different between school and when Im reading
for fun. In school, a topic is forced upon me and I end up almost always
hating what I have to read. When I read for fun I can read at my own pace, I
can sit in a quiet place and I know I will enjoy the book because I wouldnt
read it on my free time unless I enjoyed it. I like reading by myself because I
can create that imagery and picture everything the exact way that I want to.
I dont find books to read easily, but I came about a genre I liked just from
reading a random book and I stuck with that genre. Ever since then, I have
tried to find other genres that I would appreciate and be just as entranced
with, but I could never find a certain genre that I really enjoyed. Thats kind
of why I just stopped reading over all. It just seemed like a waste of time to
me.

Exploring a Discourse Community

Coming into college there were several communities that were open
for joining. During the Week of Welcome, several groups, organizations and
fraternities would open themselves up to talk about what their organization
does. I found one club that sparked interest in me; the Paintball Club. There
is a specific language among the paintball club and I quickly adapted to it
throughout the many practices that I had with the team. Most of the words
pertaining to the club deal with the competition of the sport. Like most sports
there are certain phrases for positions and tactics that help propel the team
to victory. So there are some terms that are used to communicate while
playing paintball such as: D1, S1, 50 Snake, 50 Dorito, September and
December, my mirror and finally 100g. All of these terms refer to an enemys
position on the field. 100g is a term for an enemy being shot and called out.
It means that there is 1 person dead. Everyone on the team gets to speak
their part and practice this communication on the field. There isnt just one
person who calls all the shots, thats what being part of a team is like
anyways. Anyone can enter this community as the community is open to
everyone. There isnt any racial prejudice and there arent any specific
requirements to join the community. The only thing that would keep a person
out of the community is if they werent active and they didnt treat to other
people in the community with the respect that everyone deserves. This kind
of community is something that people should get familiar with. A
community that doesnt have any boundaries or any prerequisites to being

part of the community. As soon as I joined this community I felt at ease and
at home. I felt that I would bond well with all the people in the community
and I knew that their literacy and their form of communication would carry
onto me as we grew as a community.