English 110 with Professor Ward was a wonderful experience. I have a new appreciation for writing and have learned not only on how to write better, but also about myself. The in-class workshops exposed me to techniques that helped me revise my work in a more efficient way. Most importantly, I am glad that I was surrounded with writers who were far better than me because that really motivated me to put forth genuine effort in making my work stellar.

One thing that I must admit is that, even though I was shown the “proper” writing process method, I never really made use of it. I feel that since we received ample time to write our work, I was always in a constant mode of revising. Professor Ward’s workshops helped me realize that some parts of my writing method were flawed. For example, I noticed that I rarely planned out my essays. I would go straight to Word and start typing what I thought would sound good. This turned out to be a problem because my thoughts were a bit all over the place, but I was able to organize them during the revising process. This probably led me to have ineffective transitions. In my head I thought they were sufficient, but now I know that to strengthen the flow of the essay and keep the reader engaged, I have to come up with stronger transitions. The whole revising process also appears to be a fun game. Deciding which parts to cut in hopes of making the intended thought concise is truly an art. Before I used to think that writing was a boring task, but I realize that it actually requires immense skill. I don’t think I ever appreciated writing in this way because I never really had to write to this extent. I can’t recall putting forth this much time and effort in writing in high school, so this was definitely a change for me.

Although I enjoyed the revising process, I struggled when I had to choose a topic for the narrative and exploratory essays. Brainstorming is probably one of the most important tasks for me. My inspirations for plausible topics come to me when I simultaneously listen to music and surf the internet. Most of the time this is effective and I do end up with ideas that I can write about. The gist of the essay comes with ease once I start writing. After I feel I have written enough I usually like to have someone else read it. I am grateful that Professor Ward was always available for office hours. This allowed me to assess whether my train of thought was coherent, and I also took away some real-life lessons from our conversations, which ultimately helped me in my writing.

For future assignments I hope to plan more often and continue to start early on any writing task. I feel writing is one of the many things that you shouldn’t delay because it takes time to produce something worth reading. By giving myself enough time, I know that I will be able to revisit my work if I can’t think of bright ideas. Overall, I enjoyed being in this class and I will make use of the skills I have learned.