personal reflection

Of all the classes that I have ever taken in my life, writing classes have helped me most in my daily activities. There are number of things that I have learned from the writing classes that I know will make me an effective writer.  Firstly, I have learnt a new way to approach writing by knowing enough in order to know where and how to start. Earlier before, I just jumped on a book and began writing only to find myself stuck in the middle of articles or the story I wanted to bring out. Now I know that intensive research and interviews makes one to know scope and path of the story or work he/she requires to write.

Secondly, I learnt that I should use the right voice and write for my audience. The right voice that I discovered to be most effective is active voice. This is because it makes sentences stronger and usually shorter. On the same note, I learnt that writing for my audience I should use simple language that a reader need not a dictionary to interpret what I am trying to say. Huge vocabularies do not impress a reader. They instead frustrate them.

Thirdly, I learnt that writing is all about structuring. I used to wonder why moving few words or sentences around in my writings completely changed the shape and tone of the paragraph or the entire piece. From my writing class, I now know that I have to plant, cultivate and tend in order to put everything into place.

Lastly, I now know that I should not be redundant but should convey what I want in fewer words. To avoid this, I should pay attention to grammar by having a good dictionary nearby and using thesaurus to keep my writing fresh through a variety of usable words, and of course proofreading to correct basic mistakes.