56 Seth Howard – You as a Writer (Excerpt)  

Seth Howard is a freshman at Indiana University East with a major in Business administration and a minor in Fine Arts.  Seth grew up in Hamilton, Ohio but moved to Winchester, Indiana around eighth grade where he graduated in 2023.  Seth wrote this paper in his English W131 class the fall of 2023-2024. This was a part of his narrative process of becoming a writer.  Professor Jackie Kauza notes, “Seth was a great student to have in class, as well as a writer who produced interesting and engaging work. I particularly appreciated some of the ideas he shared in his You as a Writer Paper, as well as the analysis he did in his three rhetorical analysis write-ups.”

You as a Writer (Excerpt)  

This past summer I was enrolled in the group’s scholars’ program. I had to write a paper about my family’s careers and their plans. I eventually had to reflect on them and write my own plan.  In the beginning, I was completely lost and didn’t know how to approach it. Additionally, I didn’t have the experience of college English classes that I needed to write this paper. The essay consisted of interviews about some family members and the careers they chose and why. After procrastinating and getting off track, I finally started the paper by writing and editing as I went, and I found myself rewriting everything I did, since I didn’t have a plan. I remember going through many stages of confusion and self-hate, everything I wrote was not good enough for me or the grade I wanted, and I was convinced my family would be disappointed in me. There were some moments where I needed to take a break and stress eat; I would normally eat some chips or even make myself a meal just so I could relax and get back on track momentarily. After loosening up and shutting off the voices inside my head, I chose to keep going and not give up. I continued the paper and kept pushing myself forward. After pushing myself and putting many hours of work on a page, I finally finished. I went over everything I wrote to double check and see if there was anything unstable and needed fixed. Which there were! I made many changes until I was confident and comfortable with what I had written. Therefore, I learned a way to go about writing a paper. However, I still had a couple of issues that I needed to work on to improve my writing to its fullest.

In conclusion, reading and writing are still not my strong suit. However, I have become a lot better at this skill, with my sponsors helping me understand what writing and reading are. I found what works best for me when conducting a plan for my writing strategy. Always ask for help and when you do get discouraged, remember to always take a step back and relax your mind and then move forward. Having peers help you and give you feedback can be very helpful. Also, understanding different types of genres will expand your learning.