Reflective Essay

This is a essay I have to write for creative writing, so here it is Ms. Sides:

     The biggest challenge I had with writing this year was really finding my voice. Last year I tried really hard to write reflective stuff, and I continued to this year. The biggest problem about it was that I am not subtle in any way, shape or form. I am one for the dramatic, so I spent a lot of time trying to be someone I wasn't.

     Although, with the challenge I had, I learned quite a bit. I learned whatI wanted to write. I want to write stories, great battles, people making gigantic proclamations of love. Introspective isn't my thing, and this year I finally figured it out, and honestly I'm very happy about that. I'm so much better at writing stories than I am writing essays.

     Something else I learned about my writing is the process I take to actually write. It's a lot of doing menial things. I get writer's block very easily, so I learned the best time I get ideas is when I'm doing monotonous tasks, like mowing the lawn, taking a shower, or cleaning the house. I also learned that when I write I get inspired best by movie scores. The group that helps me the most is Two Steps From Hell. I guarantee, you've heard at least one of their songs.

     The biggest growth I've noticed in my writing is that my dialogue is slowly getting stronger. At first I wanted it to be natural, like what my friends and I would say. I learned that we're boring and it wouldn't work well in say, any story. So I started using more and more dramatic sentences and adding pauses and slowly my dialogue began to get better and flow better.

     Whenever someone asks me to talk about my stories and my writing I can never think about anything positive right away. I'll have to take time to think about it, because I've never really had people read my stories before a couple of years ago. I'm starting to become more confident and realize I have a talent and I want to make a career about writing, so my thinking about my writing is changing, I'm beginning to like my writing.

     I've often thought about my creative writing class, about whether the exercises have been worth my time, about if I'm making any progress. But honestly, my attitude has always been it's a good way to practice. My attitude has always been towards bettering my talent as a writer, as an author. So, I don't think my attitude has changed at all.

     I've got some thoughts about writing itself, now actually. My least favorite part of writing any story is writing the filler. From major plot point to major plot point there needs to be something in between, and I've always hated trying to fill that up. Because I'm trying to get form point a to point b and I just don't know how I'm going to do that. But, my favorite part comes after all of that. I said before that used to dislike my writing, but with my growth and my change come my favorite part of writing, reading what I've written. It's nice to see how far I've come in a story or one of my books and it often gives me an idea of what to do next.

     And as what I should do next, the only way I can grow as a writer is to continue writing and continue to have people critique my work. I can only grow so far by myself, I'm always going to need help to get better.

     Now, I can't help but think about my writing portfolio. Those pieces are the ones I would give out to show my talent as a writer. The only criteria I used to choose those were the simple fact that those were the most fun for me to read, well that and the ones I felt were diverse enough. I don't want to become a one trick pony after all.

   This also brings up the point that my blog should represent me as a writer. Honestly, that's not a good thing. I haven't updated it since last year and I'm thinking of making a few changes to it as well. As of right now, my blog is a poor representation of my talent, but shows my work ethic fairly well... But I'm going to change that.

     At the end of this all, there's really only one thing left to say: how I'm going to continue my work as a writer. I'm going to make it my career. Whether it's writing screenplays for film companies, writing and performing my music, or being a novelist, I'm going to be a writer for life. And I won't settle until I cam support myself with my greatest talent. So, soon you're going to see my name, Joey Harris, on the New York Times best seller list, because I'm gonna make it.