Writing Review Week

I love the Storytelling assignments! At the beginning of the semester, I felt really hesitant about them because I have never really done creative writing. So I didn't think I would have any of the right skills to write an entertaining story. I suppose the jury's still out on that, but I'm definitely having a lot of fun trying.

The funny thing, to me, about the assignments, though, is the way inspiration happens. When I try to write stiffer things for my English classes, essays and reports, I can just sit down and chip away at it. It's pretty methodical. But with storytelling, I've noticed that I really have to kind of wait until a cool idea comes to me. And once it does, I can type it out really quickly. I don't think as much while I'm writing it. It flows better, for me, than other kinds of writing --- when I think I have a good idea, that is. I feel a little bit frustrated until I get there, but it has been worth it because I have fortunately been able to get that point in all of the first seven weeks. The last three stories, in particular, were really fun to write, and I think that's because I branched out a little bit more in terms of creativity.

My goal for the rest of the semester is to keep up with that and to try not to succumb to writer's block. I like writing, but writer's block is something I tend to struggle with quite a lot. I think it helps when I come up with a topic that I myself find really interesting, so I have to remember to keep doing that.

Below is a picture from my Week 6 story, Mountain Wings. That is one of my favorite ones I've written, but I also think the picture that goes with it is just so cool!

(Mountains in Clouds)

The feedback I have gotten has been really helpful. Everyone always says something nice, which is good for my confidence :)  And there are some things in my writing that are a little confusing or unclear, which is hard for me to see since it's coming from my own head. So it's good when people can point that out to me. That's super helpful for revision and for moving forward with new stories.

Writing for my storybook is a bit more difficult than the weekly storytelling just because it all has to work together. When I write a story each week, it exists on its own, and then I move on to something else. But with the storybook, each story has to connect to the one before it and then to the one coming up. That's a different sort of challenge, but I think I have a fun theme for it, and it has been a really enjoyable process.