Week 8: Growth Mindset

(Grow Image sourced from Flickr)

After looking back and reflection on the growth mindset challenges that I have completed I realized (and already knew) that my biggest challenge deals with time.

I feel as if there are not enough hours in the day to get done what I need to. I looked at this chart and recognized a few things about myself and the way that I grow.

I noticed right off the bat that I do the minimum in the things I'm not passionate about and in the things that I passionate about I push myself to go as far as I can. I research and spend time on the things that captivate my heart. I find the motivation inside myself to do the things that I know I want to do. It’s not like pulling teeth, it comes naturally. That’s why in life I desire to pursue a career that I’m passionate about. If it’s void of creativity then it’s not for me.

I think with this class I want to be a perfectionist in my story writing, I want it to be good and I mull over sentences for a long period of time in hopes of making it the best I can be. However, I think short-term in that sense and haven’t completed as many stories as I should because I take too long on one post.

In life and even in this class I see myself comparing myself to others. As a woman in college, how can you not? I find myself critiquing the way I look, the clothes I wear, the stories I’m writing, and the job I’m pursuing. I firmly believe that we are our own worst critics. I am harder on myself than I should be, which is a blessing and a curse.

I enjoy that this class is not only acting as an outlet for creative writing but it pushes me to critically think and grow as a person.

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.