Summary Of I Stand Here Writing By Nancy Sommers

Everyone knows what writing is to one extent or another, but we all have different definitions of how it should be done and varying degrees of seriousness about the art. We all have a process of writing, but each is unique to ourselves and our own experiences. Annie Dillard and Stephen King are two well known authors who have published many pieces, two of which describe how they view the writing process and let their readers get a peek of what goes on through their minds when they write. These two pieces are Dillard’s The Writing Life and King’s “What Writing Is.”

From elementary school to high school, I was taught that my writing had to be structured and follow strict criteria. After I arrived in Mr. Mukherjee’s ENG 102 class, I was given the opportunity to express my creative freedom through words and graphical pictures. It can often be difficult and challenging to improve upon my own writing abilities unless motived with an idea in mind. When looking back on my time at ASU, I thought about the goals that I wanted to address for myself and the course goals that my instructor had set for the class. These goals include ones that I had accomplished to the best of my ability and ones that I need to address as well as improve.

Mr. Bill Ezzard has never had a moment where he could say “Writing isn't my thing.” He has always been a huge fan of writing. Ever since he was a kid, writing was something he enjoyed. That is why he became a writing teacher. Ezzard went to college knowing he wanted to do something with his writing skill, but was lost with an idea of what. He was visiting his school counselor one day, and she asked him what he wanted to do in life. He thought for about a minute, and then it clicked: he wanted to be a writing

The blinds on the windows are shut, it feels like a prison cell as I sit under the spotlight. The darkness outside makes me feel somber and alone. I stare at the glowing screen and think to myself, “It’s just me and this paper.” In December of my junior year in high school, I was assigned a persuasive essay on Nathaniel Hawthorne’s novel, The Scarlet Letter; it was my first academic essay of the year. My previous experiences with academic writing were both stressful and unfulfilling; when the essay topic was announced, I felt only resentment and anger, I remembered my past tribulations. With my mother’s help, this essay was different; after I submitted it to the teacher, I possessed a new perspective on academic writing. From my experience, I learned that strong writing skills are vital to communication, critical thinking, and life outside of the classroom.

Whether while writing an essay or a birthday card, we have all struggled to find the proper words to illustrate our thoughts or feelings from time to time. Upholding the occupation of a writer would multiply that struggle tenfold. An occupation that depends on interesting, fluid pieces of writing every submission requires an adequate number of attempts and patience. Lamott expresses that writers “all often feel like we are pulling teeth” (Lamott), which proves the difficulty of writing is still there no matter the level of writer behind the work. Lamott also emphasizes that a writer “has to start somewhere” and shares her friend’s ideas in her writing to simply “get something - anything - down on paper” (Lamott). Lamott, and the other writers mentioned in this piece, carry incredible track records, while still admitting that perfection did not come initially, or even easily. Thus, proving that the Shitty First Draft has a place in any writer’s notebook or Word document. Lamott’s admission to struggling to properly begin a piece of writing surprised me, given of her success. I could not imagine a woman of her accomplishments stressing out over a food review, yet I felt relieved that someone of Lamott’s title relates to an amateur writer like myself. I often put off my writing as well when I cannot articulate a proper introduction. I do every other possible homework, or shy away from homework in general because the

Writing is a practice that most of us were taught when we were young. We were taught the basics of grammar, how to form a sentence, conjunction words, how to write paragraphs and more. Although we have learned this skill while growing up and have used the skill every year after entering kindergarten, this does not mean our writing process will ensure the best work. The authors that I chose each encourage their audience to excel in the art of writing in their own way to help with the writing process.

Styles of writing differ from writer to writer. It is clear that many writers have their own style which make them unique in their own way. However, there are many similar components in writing that authors practice in order to make their writing as effective as possible. In Suzanne Britt and Dave Berry’s essays, they reveal their opinions on the same topics but differing subjects, and in these essays, it is clear that both writers make use of many similar techniques. Yet, within these similarities, an apparent distinction in their writing style is present.

Prior to entering class, I deemed myself a competent writer. However, I quickly discovered that my writing involved mediocre writing precepts. In contrast to the principles of scholarly discourse, my writing held the tenets of conversational writing and failed to meet academic standards. Furthermore, much of my poor writing was akin to a deep-rooted habit that I found humbling to admit and challenging to correct. Passive voice, unneeded words, long sentences, were a few of the obstacles that impeded my journey to effective writing. However, using peer reviews and an editing checklist I slowly began improving my skills as a competent writer. I also found that reading concerning writing provided supplementary methods to improve my skills as a scholarly writer. Implementing these innovative techniques, I slowly began to

As a writer in college, students will be challenged. Unlike high school writing classes, college writing will be more sophisticated and intimate. In high school, most English classes require students to follow the pace of the teacher, however, college writing requires students to work at their own pace. After reading these two articles by Sommers, my thoughts on academic writing has changed. One of Sommers’s students, David, best exemplifies my expectations of a college writer because his attitude towards the class demonstrates how I believe academic writing is challenging. As a student, David went against the grain of the class and “went beyond the texts [Sommers] offered and chose his own.” I believe that college students like David struggle to find or understand information in the given text.

I am no writer. I don’t have connections to assemble or a creative imagination to share. What I do have are opinions to voice and arguments to present: but these, too, I must learn to communicate through writing. In the past, I have only ever written required assignments for school, and I struggled with them: I continue to struggle with writing today. After reading Dillard’s two essays, I learned more specifically that I struggle with beginning a piece of writing, writing clearly, and analyzing or revising what I’ve written.

My interest in writing wasn’t always apparent to me even though I sought out activities that included the skill. I enjoyed English classes growing up, but I never thought I would utilize writing at a heightened capacity for different disciplines and my own creative pursuits. Soon enough, writing became an activity that I did outside of the classroom, especially in public health pursuits during my time in college and creatively post-graduation. It is a part of my constant development as a person who contributes to causes and activities that I care about and a part of the impact I believe I can make in the medical field.

Nancy Sommers, reflects on her personal experiences of her life to express her opinions about the mind being ones greatest resource. Her approach is a very unique one, at that. She discusses writing and ideas for writing through a very personal approach. In her article, “I Stand Here Writing,” Sommers gives her readers advice on how to write. She states:

I don’t recall a specific moment in my life when literature became such an express full self-empowering art form. Nor can I remember a passage that could have struck a match that would light a fire in my soul, in which would then resonate a deep passion for the art of writing. All I know, is that one day, for some reason, I just wanted people to know how and feel what I felt. I wanted them to view my writings, starting from my name in the heading, to the very last punctuation mark of my conclusion paragraph, and be left yearning for more. When I write, I have the ability to give life to the thoughts I keep hidden and allow the world to hear my voice I keep silent.

As students, writing typically carries a different and old way of communication. Many times, students are taught how to synthesize other’s work in a formal tone. In doing so, students enter into a conversation. As they attempt to enter into this conversation through writing, what should they expect to gain? Writers should have a specific goal and motive in order to engage a targeted audience. Margaret Kantz, a famous author explains the importance of developing creativity from textual sources. In fact, Kantz states that writers should “have a goal of saying something new” (Kantz, 436). In doing so, writers should attempt to enter into a conversation with the intent to leave

abilities as a writer in such a way that I have not yet experienced. I, Joanna Valentine, a college sophomore, consider myself to be an acceptable writer; however, I was given numerous challenges during the duration of this course. I was allowed the opportunity to use writing techniques such as: a memoir, rhetorical analysis, creating a blog review with a self-made visual chart, and incorporating “new media” within my text; thus, practicing such techniques has allowed me to grow not only as a student, but as a writer. I believe it is important to have such college courses because it allows us to expand our knowledge as individual writers, it also improves not only a writer's abilities, but a readers as well, as I now have the knowledge to identify what writing techniques are being exercised within a text and what I am supposed to understand within an article, novel, or review. I have learned throughout the course that “good writing” is far more than the length of a text, whereas, it is the connection being made between the writer and the reader. Allowing students to understand the importance of transmitting information between the writer and the reader is, in my opinion, good writing.