I think I have discovered a type of writing (outside of my academic comfort zone) that I actually enjoy and want to pursue! During Jashonai's demo, I really identified with the texts she chose for our reflective writing; "My Name" and "My Father and the Figtree" were particularly moving and memorable. I was reminded of so many moments in my past, with my family, that are near and dear to my heart. My first freewrite focused on my love-hate relationship with Sarah, a name that has beautiful meaning and history but is also extremely popular and therefore, in my mind, un-unique. "My Father" reminded me of climbing a magnolia tree in my grandparents' yard when I was young, playing war with my brother and cousins as we threw the magnolia pods at one another and attempted to capture the tree for our team.
As I mentioned in my previous blog post, I have not considered myself to be a true writer for quite some time. Yes, I am great at analyzing literature and writing an analysis, and I can kick a lesson plan or reflection in the butt. But, I have been intimidated by creative writing for a variety of reasons. I think that having a piece to inspire my thinking really helps me to want to write, to capture the memories that are locked inside. Writing from my personal life has always been easier than creating a new world on my own. I am considering making a switch for my institute piece. Jashonai's demo really pushed me to write outside of my norm, to share more of myself with the world around me. Maybe this activity - and the subsequent pieces I plan to create - will help me to overcome my fear and anxiety about giving more than my academic, student self to my writing.
I would be interested to see a small excerpt from what you wrote on memoirs for a comparison between that piece and your blog. However, if you feel more passionately about the memoir piece I think that is what you should write. I believe as a writer that if you try to redirect your mind and force yourself to write something else, it never comes out as well if you write what is on your mind. I read your blog posts for your dog, and I feel like the direction of the blog would depend on your target audience. Do you want your audience to be friends, family, and people with pets or do you want your audience to be for younger children? I agree that your humor is presented well when your write from your perspective, but I did enjoy reading from the dog's perspective as well. I especially enjoyed the comment about his tail being like a wet noodle.
ReplyDeleteSarah,I was really excited about the writing I did during Jashonai's demo as well. Those pieces she brought for us just really pulled up strong memories. There is just this feeling I get that I think you maybe are describing that just is a feeling of being a writer, like the words I am saying are really just flowing and it seems connected to my writer identity. I am curious about the differences you feel in memoir writing and academic writing. I wonder if sometimes you feel this same creative flow in other kinds of writing or if this moment might begin to blur the lines somewhat... or integrate the two... hmmm...
ReplyDeleteI thought that the texts that Jashonai brought in were really good ones to dig into. I felt like I could really elaborate on some of those topics too. I'm glad that it brought up a lot of evocative memories for you and that you're excited about pursuing this type of writing. I know what you mean about feeling intimidated by creative writing--I feel like it's not something I give a lot of time too. (And I know what you mean about the love-hate relationship with a common name--I think there were three other Jessica's in my seventh grade class!)
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