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Hannah Sutherland
June 9, 2016
The Written InceptionWriting about Writing
Raise your hand if youve ever felt personally victimized by writing-Mean Girls (kind
of). Writing has always been something I dreaded but something I always found myself wanting
to be good at. In high school I believed my writing was below average, this philosophy came
from the idea that good writing stems from proper grammar and spelling. I even opted out of
taking AP English in fear of failing and being subpar in comparison to my peers. I still had this
fear and concern for how I compared to others in the normal English class. That being said I was
not surprised when I found out the scores of the universitys writing placement test Writing 1.
By the time I actually was able to enroll in Writing 1 (Winter 2016, my 2nd year) I had
already fulfilled four of the universities writing requirements in the GE category. In those
classes, I continued to have anxiety about my writing and if I was doing it right. I would begin
essays five weeks in advance because I felt I needed to give myself cushioning for all the
mistakes and revisions that were going to take place. Finally, when I took Writing 1 I started the
bend in my turning point on writing and how I saw myself in it. We all know no one looks
forward to taking Intro to University Writing courses, especially the lowest that UCSB has to
offer, but after taking this class I feel like I have moved leaps and bounds in my thinking about
writing. I only wish I had the opportunity to take this class before I took and other writing classes
(history, anthropology, sociology, etc.) This class relieved some of the reservations I had for
future writing classes, making my transition to Writing 2 less intimidating.

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When entering Writing 2, I still had hesitations because this class was not structured the
same way that my Writing 1 class was. Writing 1 was graded with a grading contract, that is as
long as you met the requirements and did the checklists you would get a set grade (regardless of
the effort one put into the work). This was nice because it took away the pressure of a letter
grade per paper that I so often got caught up in, it allowed me to practice the skills that I was
learning in class without the fear of using them erroneously and them affecting my grade. I got to
experiment with different styles, processes, and techniques that way I could see what works for
me and what doesnt. I am thankful for that opportunity because I was able to use the knowledge
from that class with some confidence (not total because lets be honest I still dont consider
myself a good writer) in Writing 2. Writing 2 was most beneficial to me because I was able to
experiment with styles and use the ones I knew and get a grade/feedback on how I was using
them. Yes, knowing that a percentage of the essays I was writing were going to my actual grade
scared me but without the grades, I would not have been able to gauge if what I thought worked
for me read well to others.
Writing 2 taught me that writers have to be conscious of who they are writing for but
should write with their choice and say in the matter. In Writing 1 I found myself writing for
myself because I was not being graded I was able to work on myself. I learned this lesson
especially in Writing Project 2. In Writing Project 1 I did not think I had done a good job on it
and was not happy with what I had submitted, but my grade would reflect the oppositeI had
actually gotten a decent grade on it and 8.5/10. On the other hand for Writing Project 2 I was
pretty proud of my essay and thought I had met the goal of the prompt as well as putting my
voice/style into itso a 7/10 was not what I was expecting. Although I was used to getting this
score on essays, for the first time in my writing career I felt defensive about my work. This

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taught me two things. One, writing is finally becoming a part of me (so cheesy, I know) but
before I would not have cared if someone criticized my work because I believed I didnt know
anything about writing. But this grade also taught me that just because I like something does not
mean others do or that it necessarily works (bringing me back to reality). This conflict was
especially prominent in revising for the portfolio.
Revising for Writing Project 2 was difficult for me because I truly and honestly was
proud and thought my essay wasnt too shabby, even the people I had read it thought my
transitions were solid and they understood the points I was making so trying to find a balance of
what I wanted to say/keep and in my essay and changing things to meet the needs of Zackwhich
he wanted things out of me that I felt I had already succeeded in explaining was confusing.
Writing 1 and part of Writing 2 have been teaching me about finding writing styles/techniques
that I want to incorporate into my writing but now I was being asked to change things to meet the
needs of someone else. I think this understanding of where to draw the line in defending my
work and taking others opinions into consideration was the major lesson I learned from this
class. The essay Reading Like a Writer was the most influential reading we did in the class. I
used as a guide for further self evaluation. I really benefited from learning what to look for in
writing and how my perception of it can be used in my own writing. I put a lot of effort in
understanding what Bunn was preaching, I tried annotating and it really slowed me down and
broke up the info. I will definitely be using this technique in future readings, especially those that
are asking me of something.
This concept of weighing out which changes I need to make was also used in Writing
Project 3 where I had multiple people telling me different things that I needed to change to fit the
prompt more but in doing so I was eliminating a different component of the prompt. I had to

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figure out what mattered the most to me, but at the same time meet the requirements of the
project. That is why when in revising WP2 I kept a lot of the same material. I felt like if I
changed my essay to correct all the comments Zack had made on my paper, it would not be my
paper anymorethe paper I was pretty happy with when turning in originally. I did use Zacks
feedback to fix contextual/clarity bugs in my paper. I understand that no paper is ever complete,
every paper can be improved on, that is why I knew there were things I needed to fix. I went
from thinking my papers were dirt to thinking my papers were a little better than dirt and just that
little change gave me the confidence to stick to my guns. Hopefully, it does not come off as
conceded or lazy for not using many of his comments but this decision (fingers crossed its not a
stupid one) to keep a good portion of my essay is a choice I wanted to make because I feel it
reflects the change I see in my relationship with writing.
I can recognize when things to do need to be altered because I knew my first WP was not
how I wanted it to be so I used Zacks commentary as my guiding force. Many of his comments
were the same issues I had with my piece in the first place, his criticism created an outline for
things I wanted to change so I could keep track of what I wanted to fix. The take out of this is
that I need to be responsive to all criticism because in the future it could help me, even though I
may not think I need it.
Besides just learning and adapting writing for different scenarios/audiences I was
encouraged to push my creative boundaries. I think this characteristic of teaching was prompted
because Zack is one of the most outside-the-box thinkers I have met. I have always been timid
towards this style of writing because I thought it was silly, cheesy, and inappropriate for writing
but like everything else there is a time and place for it. My intro for Writing Project 1 is a perfect
example, it pained me to write that because it is not a representation of who I am as a writer but

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when I got stellar feedback on it, it gave me the motivation to try it some more. This push
showed me that writing does not have to be brutish and dramatic all the time. Most of the time
when I write I try to be as impactful and melodramatic, the typical writer that sits in a dark room
with a single lit source in full agony and full of life experiences. Even though those are favorite
types of article/essays to read I dont see myself practically using this dark style of writing in
college. I was able to tango with humor and creativity because I knew my audience (Zack)
responses well to it. That is something he likes seeing in papers but it was also something I have
been wanting to try without judgment.
Along with being creative I enjoyed being challenged to try different sentence
styles/grammar. Scouts honor, the tip on using commas, dashes, and parenthesis were one that
I will forever be thankful for. It seriously has changed the game. I think this tip stuck with me so
much because these lessons are one of the things I was looking forward to in writing classes.
Since society still focuses a lot on this aspect of writing I am always trying to improve this in my
own writing. This tip is also majorly important because one of my most noticeable characteristic
of writing is lists. I just love lists. Knowing now I have different ways of communicating this
staple of my writing is another way for me to explore writing. I find myself noticing when I use
this tip and others in my writing, even outside this class where I am not asked to do this
purposely.
Writing 2 has been a journey, I remember after the first day of class thinking that I was
not going to be successful in this class because of the style (creative) manner the class was
organized around. In my head it was unconventional and I am/was a very conventional person.
As time passed I learned that I am not going to get anything out of this class if I dont try and
relate to this type of learning, once I realized it was okay to cut loose and I tried it I felt a little

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awkward. Ironic, I know. It didnt matter if I stuck to my guns or try something waaaaaay out of
my comfort zone, writing was going to be awkward. Thats just part of the process of becoming a
writer.