Rollin’ on a River of Words
As almost any other kid growing up I disliked writing and wanted to avoid it as much as possible. As I grew up and I had more and more writing experiences, I realized that I actually enjoyed writing. Writing just had an impact on me where I would find myself intrigued and possessed with a sense of accomplishment. I think it was my english teachers that gave me the confidence in my writing. I always wanted to make my writing different from my peers. I remember spending a good amount of time looking through a thesaurus and attempting to modify my writing into something that would have my readers more captivated. Other than required essays and papers for class I did not do much writing on my own time. I wrote a couple sports articles for a small sports website but it was nothing major. Due to all my prior experiences, I thought I had a good understand of the writing, but this class gave me a whole new outlook on the undervalued art. I think what Stafford’s essay brings to the table is the thought of allowing your mind flow through your writing. It’s an interesting yet confusing theory.
I think the Stafford essay opened my mind to the idea of just writing whatever comes to my mind without any justification. I need to allow my mind flow into my paper or as Stafford puts it “I must follow my own weak, wandering, diffident impulses.” (Koch 67). I found myself very interested with that thought. Yet at times when I do try to clear my mind and write, my mind becomes completely blank and I cannot think of anything, or I suddenly start thinking about something that is completely irrelevant to the topic at hand. When I do eventually start writing, I may start worrying about reader expectations, my grammar and punctuation or if what I am writing even makes sense. Yet Stafford addressed that too stating “I am making something new, something that has not been judged before. Later others-and maybe I myself-will make judgements. Now I am...