Thinking on Paper

This week I have been researching how I developed as a writer.

First and foremost, my writing was shaped by reading. I was an early reader. I remember my dad reading to my brother and me before bed every night. We had one big book of fairy tales that he would read from. I remember looking at the pages, and hearing my dad’s voice explain each picture on each page.

I don’t remember much about not being able to read. I think it came very natural to me, and was never something that I struggled with. I think I began to develop my narrative voice around second or third grade, when I began reading books like the Harry Potter series, The Series of Unfortunate Events, Junie B. Jones, Ramona books, and my personal favorite, The Phantom Tollbooth.

With these books, I realized many things about reading and writing. Reading was an adventure, and the writer was the guide of your journey. When you are the writer, the reader is allowing you to take their mind to many different places, familiar or unfamiliar. A good writer can remind you of feelings you once had, causing you to feel that feeling all over again. A good writer can also introduce you to new feelings, piquing your curiosity.

The writing process is coming along for this first assignment. When I’m writing, I like to write about what is on my mind first. Its almost like a warm up. I think its part of the research process. I warm up my voice to tell my story. My last few blog posts have been me warming up my descriptive voice.

A huge part of what made me a (I would say decent) writer is that I love to describe things in text that simulates for the reader what I had felt in that moment. I have had several great English and writing teachers that really helped me understand the importance of being descriptive. These teachers taught me how to grow and improve my descriptive vocabulary. (The thesaurus is my best friend.)

My goal for the end of the week is to organize my thoughts in a way that will create a descriptive and interesting paper about my journey with reading and writing. This assignment is challenging because its something I have never thought about. I have never thought deeply about where my narrative voice comes from. I have never thought deeply about how that voice was formed. I think this will be an interesting next couple of days.

When I finish the paper, I will blog it and post it in my portfolio if anyone feel like reading it.