Blog Post II

I was never a good writer. I would stare at blank Microsoft word pages at 2 am with burning eyes and a deflated mentality because I knew that writing was NOT my strong suit. I would try numerous ways in which to plan out what I will write like I was in the 5th grade but he “umbrella” or the “burger” method could not manage to uphold its simplicity once I came to college. Nothing worked for me. I would sit down and word vomit information and make connections in my head, but once it traveled from my brain to the key board and pop up on a brightly lit screen, there was nothing. I would sit outside my TA’s office hours every day that she offered them. We made regular coffee dates at her favorite mom and pop coffee shop and she would use that godawful red sharpie to cross out paragraphs of my incredibly awful first, second, third, fourth, maybe even fifth draft. To this day, I associate sharpies with my inability to ever be a good writer. I learned a lot from her though. She too had us read “Shitty First Drafts” and it resonated with me and that it is okay to not have an eloquently polished piece after your first attempt. Writing and learning takes incredible amounts of patience and learning who you are as a student. I am not naturally smart; I know that about myself. I would be unbelievably frustrated when all of my peers would receive A’s on tests or essays after looking over the material once or writing the paper the night before, while I spent hours on top of days drafting, studying, and familiarizing myself with the material and still walking out with a worst grade. But I am okay with it now. I am okay with shitty first drafts.