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Can someone help me with my Reflective Essay?
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
I have to write a reflective essay for my online English Composition college writing class. This is my first week of the class and therefor my first essay. I am NOT a writer by any means! I am so awful at writing, the words never come out right and I suck at essays. It took me days to get to where I am now with my essay. I have a very hard time expressing myself and reflective essays are personal so I am very uncomfortable and embarrassed. If you could please review my essay and give me some feedback and suggestions I would really appreciate it! I also need suggestions for a title?
Here are the essay instructions:
Write a reflective essay that contemplates your experience as a writer. What is your experience with writing so far? What do you think is your greatest challenge with the writing process? How do you feel when you write—for instance, are you confident, nervous, or both? What tools will you need to grow as a writer?
Essay:
Ever since I was a little girl I've had stories that I've wanted to tell, but never could. Stories of all kinds flow through my mind on a daily basis. Today could be Romance and tomorrow could be Science Fiction. Every day there is a new idea or concept that takes a hold of me and sends my mind swirling through endless possibilities. No matter what circumstances I have faced in life, I have always had an endless loop of stories dreamt up in my imagination for me to escape to. I have long wished to write my stories and share them with the world, but no matter how hard I've tried and no matter what the story was, I could never get it on paper.
I have always had an active imagination. Once an idea pops into my head, my mind takes off and runs like the wind. As a child, I would look up to the sky and watch the fluffy white clouds take on new shapes as they danced across the open blue sky. My mind would look at these shapes and bring them to life. Clouds were no longer clouds, they were now dogs, cats, rabbits, flowers, and even people. Each shape had their own identity and stories unique to them. As I grew older, these stories were no longer born in the clouds but in the darkness that came when I closed my eyes at night. Stories were now inspired by every day events and the dreams that took place in my sleep. I wake up the next morning to a brighter world filled with sunshine and singing birds full of cheer. Thoughts and stories are so clear and vivid that a sense of hope takes over and I decide to write these stories, in hopes of one day sharing them with the world. Nevertheless, no matter how strong my desire is to write these stories, they have never been written. I sit at my desk with my pen in hand, staring at a blank sheet of paper, ready to share my story with the world. As I begin to write I find that the words don't flow on paper like they do in my head. In my head, stories gracefully come together, and on paper these stories are choppy and undescriptive. What was once so beautiful and elegantly displayed in my head became so underwhelming and distasteful. I begin to feel frustrated and allow doubt to creep in and convince me that my stories are disastrous and will never be good enough. I inevitablely give in to this doubt. Suddenly, the singing birds that once filled my morning lose their cheer as their songs become distant, and the day that began so bright quickly fades like the glow of a fire taking it's dying breath.
I say to myself "Someday," but will someday ever come? Those stories in the clouds have long floated away out of sight, out of memory. Too many stories written in the darkness of my dreams have slipped away into the night, never to be seen again. I ask myself how could my stories sound so good in my head, but not on paper? What is holding me back? Is it my lack of confidence, or my fear of failure? I dream of the day when my stories will flow out of my head and onto paper effortlessly with grace and poise. I am by no means a writer, and writing is not a profession I'd like to pursue. I am just a girl with a lot of stories, who dreams of one day having the confidence and ability to write them for the world to see. Until that day, I will sit back and enjoy the wonderful tales that reside in my imagination, for they never cease to put a smile on my face.
Here are the essay instructions:
Write a reflective essay that contemplates your experience as a writer. What is your experience with writing so far? What do you think is your greatest challenge with the writing process? How do you feel when you write—for instance, are you confident, nervous, or both? What tools will you need to grow as a writer?
Essay:
Ever since I was a little girl I've had stories that I've wanted to tell, but never could. Stories of all kinds flow through my mind on a daily basis. Today could be Romance and tomorrow could be Science Fiction. Every day there is a new idea or concept that takes a hold of me and sends my mind swirling through endless possibilities. No matter what circumstances I have faced in life, I have always had an endless loop of stories dreamt up in my imagination for me to escape to. I have long wished to write my stories and share them with the world, but no matter how hard I've tried and no matter what the story was, I could never get it on paper.
I have always had an active imagination. Once an idea pops into my head, my mind takes off and runs like the wind. As a child, I would look up to the sky and watch the fluffy white clouds take on new shapes as they danced across the open blue sky. My mind would look at these shapes and bring them to life. Clouds were no longer clouds, they were now dogs, cats, rabbits, flowers, and even people. Each shape had their own identity and stories unique to them. As I grew older, these stories were no longer born in the clouds but in the darkness that came when I closed my eyes at night. Stories were now inspired by every day events and the dreams that took place in my sleep. I wake up the next morning to a brighter world filled with sunshine and singing birds full of cheer. Thoughts and stories are so clear and vivid that a sense of hope takes over and I decide to write these stories, in hopes of one day sharing them with the world. Nevertheless, no matter how strong my desire is to write these stories, they have never been written. I sit at my desk with my pen in hand, staring at a blank sheet of paper, ready to share my story with the world. As I begin to write I find that the words don't flow on paper like they do in my head. In my head, stories gracefully come together, and on paper these stories are choppy and undescriptive. What was once so beautiful and elegantly displayed in my head became so underwhelming and distasteful. I begin to feel frustrated and allow doubt to creep in and convince me that my stories are disastrous and will never be good enough. I inevitablely give in to this doubt. Suddenly, the singing birds that once filled my morning lose their cheer as their songs become distant, and the day that began so bright quickly fades like the glow of a fire taking it's dying breath.
I say to myself "Someday," but will someday ever come? Those stories in the clouds have long floated away out of sight, out of memory. Too many stories written in the darkness of my dreams have slipped away into the night, never to be seen again. I ask myself how could my stories sound so good in my head, but not on paper? What is holding me back? Is it my lack of confidence, or my fear of failure? I dream of the day when my stories will flow out of my head and onto paper effortlessly with grace and poise. I am by no means a writer, and writing is not a profession I'd like to pursue. I am just a girl with a lot of stories, who dreams of one day having the confidence and ability to write them for the world to see. Until that day, I will sit back and enjoy the wonderful tales that reside in my imagination, for they never cease to put a smile on my face.
Post edited by JustV on
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Comments
As long as you acknowledge good and bad experiences, what you can do well, what you need to do better and what you need to do to improve.
Also, include direct quotes from your own work, examples of incidents (ie a moment of inspiration, or somebody reading your work and liking a certain bit), and any quotes from works you already like. Just check with your tutor but you may be able to include stuff you wrote when you were younger before the course started as an example of where you've come from.
As this is a first essay, I'm guessing there will be more and is designed to be a journey for you, so maybe talk about what inspired you to write in the first place, any favourite authors?