Journal 3

After reading Lamott's "Shitty First Drafts" piece I realized a couple of different things. The first being that I realized I only occasionally have to write a shitty first draft like she says has to be written every time. For example, while writing research papers or even most thesis driven essays, I can easily just wing what I want to write and don't change my first draft very drastically from my final product. However I do occasionally write short stories and journals just for my own personal enjoyment. When writing these types of things, I love writing shitty first drafts just because it allows you to get all your feelings and thoughts running through your head down on a computer so you don't forget any of it and can pick it apart. This leads to the third question asked at the end of the excerpt I read.

Writing a "shitty" first draft isn't about reaching a perfect product but more about the process to get to that finished product. Like I said earlier while writing that first draft you don't have to worry about your audience, or a point your trying to prove, or even to much of a story line. The point of the first draft, or at least the point of it in my opinion, is to visualize your thoughts and more importantly your emotions on a subject. Then from reading the draft you can pick out the things that your audience can relate to and the lines that actually have meaning and create an "up draft" from there. This process allows you to be able to write something more meaningful and from the heart, which I feel is almost more important than the plot line of the story. For a reader to be able to feel what is happening to you is far more important than the story that is actually happening. Anyone could write about someone dying but not everyone could make that story relatable and interesting.

However I do have to disagree with some points that writers can't just sit down and have a good first draft once in a while. I have written some of my favorite pieces in one sitting with out much revision done to them. Though I do understand that this is not always possible but sometimes, if you take enough time to organize your thoughts in your head before hand, you can sit down and write an amazing first draft that comes straight from the heart. However for this personal memoir that we have to write I will be writing a "down draft" and then an "up draft." My main reason for doing this is because the situation I will be writing about is still emotionally overwhelming for me at times because it has happened so recently and I need to be able to express my emotions to words for the first time. I'm doing this to both challenge myself and help myself maybe get some hurt feelings off my chest at the same time. Therefore I will be doing a lot of drafting for this memoir and it may be hard for me to organize the events in a way people can understand at first but I'm hoping this paper will turn out the way I want it to regardless with the help of these first couple drafts.

Journal 2

I read "My Addicted Son" by David Sheff. The main subject of the essay was David's son who was a meth addicted. This story is relevant and timely because drugs are such a common theme in modern media and culture. For example many movies and TV shows show drug use as a common thing. Also many people either suffer from drug addictions or know someone who is at least involved with drugs to an extent. Because of this readers of this essay could either relate to the father who is watching his child become addicted, a person who has experienced problems with drugs themselves, or just a friend who has watched a loved one suffer from the exposure to drugs. This means the intended audience of this essay could be rather large because I believe it is intended for anyone who has experienced a loved one with a drug problem or has a drug problem themselves. It could also be intended for a young audience to try and warn them to stay away from drugs.

I believe the point to this story is to outline the path travelled to addiction and show how difficult it is for one to recover and live with such addictions. Therefore the purpose of this essay would be to warn people of how devastating drugs are and how to recognize the signs that a person may have a problem with drugs. The writer does this by using direct examples, such as flash backs to different events, and feelings from his life. He's very descriptive about his sons physical apperance when he's back on drugs. He also focuses on description during crisis situations, such as finding his son in the alley way, to provoke emotions. I would like to be able to incorporate intense descriptions of things in my writing in order to provoke emotions. I find it hard at times to find words to explain the way things looked or seemed during the time they happened.

Like previously stated the author uses pathos through descriptions of his son when he is high and injuried. This calls the reader to feel emotion towards the son and the father for having to see his son in such a bad state. Another way the author provokes emotion is through the examples of how Nick, his addict son, effects his other children. By showing how the addiction effects the youth of his other children this calls the reader to feel more emotion for the family. In conclusion the author uses the contrast of innocence and corruption to provoke emotion along with discriptions for pathos.

Journal 1

Ever since I was a child I've been very interested in writing. This continued throughout my life as I attended a high school that focused very much on writing. Regardless of this, I can admit that my writing is still sometimes weak and has many flaws. One of my main flaws is my grammar. I tend to write very quickly and off the top of my head, therefore sometimes my writing isn't structured correctly and has many grammar errors. My English teacher in high school always marked my papers down because of my misuse of commas and things such as that. Another weakness of mine, which is directly linked to the fact that I write off the top of my head and don't plan my papers, is that sometimes they can be a little jumpy and hard to follow. However, I think some advantages I have in writing is that I am good at researching topics and I can be persuasive.

I would like to improve my grammar flaws which can be done as simply as proof reading my work and seaking feed back on my papers from others. I would also like to structure my papers better. I can achieve this by creating outlines, writing out ideas and creating a thesis before I actually begin to write my papers. I also need to try and focus on fewer topics within a paper, and try to keep things simpler instead of going off on tangents when I write. I feel this class will help me with these issues because I will have others reading my papers and giving me feedback, along with being able to sit down with the professor and having my paper reviewed.

I would also like to become a more creative writer. I'm decent at writing an essay paper but I'm very interested in music and creative novels. I like listening to music to decipher the meaning behind lyrics. Some of the bands I listen to whose lyrics have the most impact on me are The Word Alive, A Day to Remember, Underoath and We Came as Romans. A Day to Remember's lyrics have been the most influential in my life and I have just recently gotten the line "Keep your hopes up high and your head down low" from their song All I Want tattooed on my back http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/daytoremember/alliwant.html. I would love to put my feelings to words in the way that these artists do but my writing is not creative enough yet. Someone else who inspired me to become a better writer was Oscar Wilde. The first book I read by Oscar Wilde was The Picture of Dorian Grey and I fell in love with his interesting perspectives on life and some of the quotes in his book. I also liked his ability to build the main character and how the novel was unique and twisted. I continued to look up more quotes and works by him since then and one of my favorite websites that contains some of his quotes put to artwork is http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/8WgRcZ/ourfunnyplanet.com/famous-oscar-wild-quotation/. Basically my main influence to become a better writer is to write something something as influential as these artists and inspire other people.