Writing good essays and outlines are important to me. Although, I have improved my writing in many ways by attending program English 101, this essay briefly describes three ways where the improvement is significant to I have decided to present them herewith. For the first time I started to apply some simple tools as presented in the courseware for remaining focused and avoiding distractions -generating new ideas for writing, for planning and organizing the material gathered over a period of time. Secondly, I began to keep a positive attitude as I gathered ideas from experience and reading. Third the most important is for me was getting into the habit of writing something almost everyday and make it my habit this is again application of what we learned during the past weeks. In this essay – which is my first one after I have attended the English writing program, I wish to briefly tell you more on each of the areas that I have improved as a writer and share with you the major source of this knowledge as quotes within the test.
Any good piece of writing must start with concentration; my concentration is more when the distractions are minimal. “some people simply can’t write in the kitchen’ as the reading material given to us tells, I learned to keep the external distractions to the minimal and controlled my interruptions by keeping the mobile phone away from me. I also kept an easy access to a notebook so that anytime there is an important word or idea; I could note it down for later references. I also started identifying various parts of my reading and started marking out who could be the audience for what part and where I could use the given text or data. All the above habits I started to develop as I carefully read the pages of the course book chapter 1 Writing Myths and Rituals’. Sharper focus has helped me become a better reader or assimilator of information that I could use in my writing.
As I found the ideas to write about in my reading, and it is not so difficult for me to write “the first 10 words” the difficulty to write further comes when one is short of ideas, The problem is resolved as our courseware suggests when we “keep the attitude positive and energy high”. I also got some vital evidences from my literature review that supports the subject. My sharper focus to write clearly and keeping positive attitude helps the most. I want express my ideas as a writer and will continue to read.
“Keeping a Journal” for my daily writing is not an easy ritual as the material suggested but sure it helps, It looked like a bane in the beginning with but as I understood how much means to keep noting down small points as they come, the same started to become a boon for my writing.
I would sum up to say that the program gave me a great deal of confidence to write clearly, I also got the feedback on my written communication as I interacted with rest of the students in the class. I would like to improve further and become a good writer of journal or the blogs, to do this first few steps, I do not need to build complex claims, persuasive and analytical arguments. My biggest gain from this class is that I have started making reading a habit and following some writing rituals towards being a more proficient writer, the path is becoming clearer to me almost everyday as I write even if it’s a few sentences. I have read the courseware book on ‘Writing Fitness: Rituals and Practice’ really very useful material for this program and learned a lot from it. I will continue to maintain my energy and develop a more positive attitude towards academic research and writing. Curiosity, clarity and communication are the three pillars for me to strengthen; with them firmly in place; adopting each ritual as a building block for my improvement.
Reading and picking relevant content was of great importance to me as I improved further as a writer. Here I would outline a few chapters that I have chosen to reflect what I got from the course book as we were recommended to read for English 101. The foundational topic that is ‘Place, Time and Tools’ gives us the basics of writing. In the first chapter itself we uncover some myths associated with writing and thereafter we understand what rituals that the book talks about really are. We get advice to keep the distractions and disturbances to the lowest so that we can focus on the task in hand. This in my view is also important when we read. We are suggested to keep notes in the form of journals. Keeping a fixed time helps is maintaining the journal as a habit and develop it as a ritual. A humorous cartoon by Bob Thaves makes this topic interesting. Keeping simple tools like pen and paper handy is such a great advice we always heard but first time we realized how important it can be as a ritual. Maintaining high level of energy and positive attitude outlines how important it is to “give your self a break from the past and begin with a fresh image”. The topic gives useful tricks such as ‘write the easiest part first’ and ‘keep moving’. The technique to ‘quit when you know what comes next’ is my greatest take-way for me as a write. I wish to keep this book as a handy guide for me as I write further. I would like to finish this outline with what Steven Covey wrote in his famous book ‘7 Habits for Highly Effective People’ that it is the habit of a leader to “first understand than be understood”. I would like to understand the author more as I apply ‘Writing Fitness & Rituals” in my work as a writer. Reading the book helped me a lot to improve as a writer.
