Week 8 Reflections

(Image of Belle from Beauty and the Beast sourced from Angela's Blog)

Overall, this class has been a joy and stressful all at the same time. I feel as if I am behind and playing catch every week. This class has pushed my creativity in my writing which is something I have been looking for in a class throughout my time at OU. (Of course I would find it in my last semester of college).

Reading: The hundreds and hundreds of stories and units we have been able to choose from is something that I love. You can always learn something new and there is enough stories to go around that if you don’t like one you can always switch to another. I find myself now thinking of what I want to write when reading stories because I’m picking up on the authors; writing techniques which is something I didn’t do previously. I am looking forward to the reading in the European unit. The culture of Europe is something that I have always been intrigued by.

Writing: I am happy with the stories that I have been writing, but I do know that there has been a lack of them. I taking my creative writing seriously and my creative always seems to take longer than most. I can sit down in one sitting and write a story at the snap of my fingers. I slowly piece my stories together and that has been my struggle in this course. I reread and rewrite until I think it’s good enough and that takes more time than I have. In fact, on blog post that I wrote for my own personal website (amandaleighclark.com) took me over a year and a half to write. I compiled travel notes, dreams and thoughts and then pieced it all together over the course of a year. I love to write but I feel pressed for time. Writing in one sitting and then editing later is a skill i’m hoping to master by the end of this class. I can’t dwell on a sentence for hours, I just no longer have time in this hurried semester.

Connecting: I often compare my stories to others that I am reading and I find myself wishing I had he skill set of others. Never would I think of writing in the same dialect or would I be able to write a long drawn out poem like I see others doing. I enjoy reading others stories and then seeing what I can do to make mine better. The feedback is something I look forward to receiving in my inbox.