Hello I am Loni Neilson and what
you’re about to read is my final portfolio. Before you start to turn the pages
and either read or skim through the words that I have written I would like you
to know that this class has saved me from an acute case of creativity block. Reading
through my old drafts I could see how I have slowly been able to reach my goal
of writing succinctly and to the point. I have thoroughly enjoyed this class
and hope to continue getting better at this expressive art form. I hope reading
this final portfolio will spark some ideas for you to write. Just remember the
first lesson that I learned in this class. The most important lesson to my
writing; don’t let your brain stop your fingers.
I was dreading the thought of taking writ 101 at first. Everyone and
anyone that I ever heard of taking this course absolutely hated it. People
would always say things such as “they treat us like we are in middle school.” Or
“why do we have to take this class when we already learned all of this in high school?”
Well for me those expressions tamed my thoughts for this class. However I
decided that no one is ever the best. There is always room for improvement and
my writing skills were definitely in that genre of needing desperate help to
write a successful paper. So coming into this class I decided I was going to do
my best and get the most out of it.
My ultimate goal coming into this class was to
be able to write succinctly and to the point. I have a tendency to wander in my
thoughts and that started to reflect in my writing as well. I was relieved when
I came into this class and it wasn’t all about grammar, it was about getting
your thoughts on paper and being able to articulate said thoughts.
In that mindset I was able to
improve, I consider this semester to be a success for my writing skills. I was
still thinking about the logistics way too much and that was getting in the way
of my writing. I was in the mindset that I needed to be grammar perfect and
that creativity was the last thing to come. However that isn’t the case at all.
The first day that we were in class Mackenzie had all of us write for ten
minutes straight. The rules; you couldn’t stop for any reason at all. Now my
typing is far from perfect and not being able to stop and fix all of my obvious
grammar mistakes was like torture. We had to just write he didn’t care what it
was about or how many mistakes there were we had to just write.
Looking back now I think that
was a step that was missing from my writing process all along. I was thinking
so much that I could barely write a sentence. Now I can write three pages
without even thinking. Those three pages will probably turn into one after
going back and reading and editing but that’s not the point. I just need to get
my ideas on paper. I need to write more often instead of writing everything in
just one sitting.
Now when I write I put all of
my ideas on paper then I leave that paper and continue to think about my topic.
I even found myself getting great ideas at random times like when I was making
breakfast and forgetting about breakfast and burning breakfast. Anyways looking
through all of my assignments from this semester I am still getting new ideas
for these papers that I have written. I don’t know if there is ever a thing as
finished work, but if I were to present something from this semester it would
be this portfolio. Please enjoy reading my work from this semester I hold this
as a beginning to new ideas.
Thank you,
Loni Neilson
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