Writing Voice

I think my writing voice is something I just discovered throughout this course, at least when it comes to inputting my voice into academic writing assignments. I have always been told by teachers that I am a good writer, but I never enjoyed writing for school.

Throughout middle school, I'd find myself writing witty poems about just about anything, and as I progressed into high school, I realized that writing was very cathartic for me. I began to journal at the end of each day just as a way to process what had happened. Writing became a way for me to uncover what was really going on inside my head, and to recognize any problems in my thinking before they became a larger issue to tackle.

However, all that time, I still hated writing for school. Teachers would encourage me to write more because they enjoyed my pieces, but I just was not motivated. Since being in this class, though, I have discovered that I enjoy writing when I can write about what I care about. This class has given me the opportunity to insert my passions and my thoughts into just about every writing assignment we have had, and that opportunity has made writing not only easy, but enjoyable for me.

For one of the first times I can remember, I found myself painstakingly revising and revising my memoir because I felt so connected to that piece; I cared so deeply about it that the time constraints I were working under were more of a challenge than a looming deadline. I have wanted to refine my pieces as best I could before the deadline, instead of forcing myself to crank out the minimum requirement before the paper is due.

In all of this, I have found my writing voice is really just my heart. My writing is just another way for you to get to know me. If I ever do find myself teaching English to students, I would hope that I could empower them to write about what they care about and uncover their own voice.