Pre-Free-Spree

Immediately after hearing the prompt for this personal essay, I knew exactly what I wanted to write about. I wasn't exactly sure on what my second option would be, but I didn't think it would be that hard to find a defining moment. This is what the common app and some other college applications have as an essay question, so it's been on my mind all summer. I'm either going to write about Harry Potter changing my life, or about meeting my best friend Miranda.

The idea that Harry Potter has changed my life may seem kind of silly or juvenile to some people, but it really isn't that odd of a happening. This book series has applied so much to my life and helped me through so many dark times. I rode the Hogwarts Express in, pulled pranks with the twins, and loved with the trio. They gave me a family and a community that is one of the most loving fandoms in existence. It also introduced me to LeakyCon, a Harry Potter/literary conference held each summer, that I think I can call one of the best experiences of my life. The books and the community have changed me and my thoughts so much, and they've changed me for the better.

My second option, meeting my best friend Miranda, is just as monumental in my life. I met Miranda in eighth grade, but we really started to become friends freshmen year. Before meeting her, I just kind of went along with what everyone else said and had my entire life planned out exactly and just wanted to be a "normal" kid in high school. She introduced me to the beauty of intellectual conversations (they are my favorite and so hard to come by), the greatness of just living instead of planning everything out, and the author John Green who has made a large impact on my life (nerdfighteria) and connects back to LeakyCon where I ended up meeting him. Miranda made me want to read and write and be intelligent and interesting and creative. It's not that I didn't have the desire before, it's just that it wasn't the main thing on my plate freshmen year. But since that moment in Spanish I when we were sat beside each other, she has made my life so interesting. And I'd like to think I've returned the favor.

I think this assignment is so hard because my events are sort of intertwined. Harry Potter came first, making me want to be a better person and live life well. Then Miranda came and reinforced the idea of increasing awesome and decreasing world suck. I'm not sure if I can even classify one single event as "life-changing." I mean, I can classify something as a starting point of life-changing, but it won't be THE life-changing event. So that might be a bit of a problem while writing. However, I think this assignment will probably be one of our easiest.

Blog #1: Abilities as a Writer

As a writer, I feel that I am prepared. I will usually start by researching a topic fully. That means printing articles and highlighting, making an outline, and organizing my paper. As I write, I'll try to find the best places to insert quotes and paraphrasing to support my topic. I like to write very factually whether or not the paper is fully academic. I want to have a broad knowledge of the topic so that I can answer any and all questions presented to me. My major problem with writing is that I tend to do it in big chunks of time instead of spread out over days. This is a problem for me because when I write in huge chunks I get really erratic with my writing and it doesn't come out as well as I'd hoped. Sometimes I also have issues finding the right words or the right topic sentences and I have to keep coming back to the spot and trying new things. This is only a problem because a) I won't turn in the paper until I've found the right ones, and b) you're supposed to edit after you finish, not during writing.  I like things to flow very smoothly from topic to topic in my papers. However, I am pretty confident in my writing ability. I'm not the best, but I would say that I'm probably a smidgen above average for my age and grade. I don't like to think too highly of my writing because usually people who do get really cocky and make mistakes. I don't have a lot of problems with writing, but when I don't have the motivation to do it I can't make myself. I know there are ways to get yourself into the writing mood, but I just can't do it. 

I don't really have a lot of questions about Eng 101/102 because the syllabus and book are pretty straightforward. I've been pre-reading for the course over the summer and found the book kind of terrible. I mean, sure, correct information is presented, but the examples are ridiculous and they misspell things in an English book. They also don't begin with your basics, but go straight in to writing tips and then in chapter nine or something they finally get into basics. I've also been tutoring over the summer in English, so this book is really, really dragging for me. 

I'd love to have more practice in writing entry essays for college (personal basically). While I can write these, they take a little bit more because you can't entirely refer to quotes and data. You can insert them in places, but they don't really support unless you have a pretty strong case. I'd also like to learn more about logos, ethos, and pathos. I'm sure I use them, but I don't recognize using them. 

This course isn't really worrying to me, but it will be good practice/entry to college level material.