Writer's Reflection
Inquiry one was probably the most difficult paper for me to write, mostly because it was the first actual college paper I was asked to write. I remember being so nervous about this paper and stressing myself out over whether or not it was good enough for a college English course. If I could do anything over in this Inquiry, I would tell myself to take a deep breath and calm down. I would tell myself that soon I would figure out the writing process and the best way to do that is to just start writing and be open to making changes.
What this inquiry really taught me is how to draft and revise. I know I mentioned this in my Introductory Reflection, but Inquiry One is really where I honed these skills. I learned the value of just spewing thoughts out onto the keys and not worrying about every word and sentence being perfect from the beginning. I was not able to do this before, so I never really had rough drafts, just mostly finished papers. I think my previous methods held me back, because I lost a lot of valuable ideas in the time I wasted thinking of a better synonym or whether or not I should use a semicolon. And because I never had rough drafts, I couldn’t open myself up to revision. My ‘drafts’ felt too complete and special to me to make bold revisions, because they were basically finished products. Inquiry One taught me how to throw my words down, leaving the formalities for later, and then make risky yet calculated revisions for the sake of rhetoric.