Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

Earlier in the semester, I was asked to reflect on my ability as a writer. It occurred to me then that my ability is changing greatly, even now. Writing is a skill that expands and adapts with time, and can be different based on the situation of those who write. A young, unhappy teen may write somewhat messily, but with a definite flair of attitude and rebelliousness. A stay at home mother who writes in her free time will of course write differently, perhaps with a slower tone and a much more peaceful undercurrent. This remains true for all people, myself included. My writing situation has changed drastically since the last reflection we created, let alone since the far-off days of high school and the like. In the last reflection letter, I commented that, to that point in time, it seemed as though the college writing scene would foster much more fruitful development than my high school career ever had. Proudly, I would like to state that I still believe this to be true. To date, I have yet to meet an assignment, no matter how difficult or confusing, that has seemed trite and pointless. Through these numerous assignments, I am starting to get a true picture of my own writing style and the breadth of my talent in the art itself. This will help me greatly, for when I understand my writing style I will be able to manipulate and create as I please, and through understanding my own talent level I can effectively work towards expanding it. I am also still under the impression that our teacher, Steph the Destroyer, is a concerned individual with the art of writing set dead in her sights. She seems to me to be the type of person who enjoys writing for its act rather than its conclusion, which I can appreciate more than most. Since the age of six or seven, I have sat slaving at keyboards everywhere, trying to better a writing talent that I had already fostered at a young age. I can only imagine Steph doing the same, sitting somewhere in the stormy past at a youthful age trying to advance a talent not yet fully graspable. I hope, under this able tutelage, to be able to advance that same talent, and I feel prepared to do so. My freewriting has been perhaps the most telling part of our activities and tasks thus far. Through freewriting, as I have said before, I can understand in writing the thought processes of my own mind. I could say that I am a creative individual with a wandering mind. I could call myself a stranger, lost in the words of his own mind and trying to weather the storm and possibly even come out more educated than when I went in. But all of these statements sound clichéd and ultimately meaningless. What can be said is that I have found through freewrite what it is I care about in writing, and what it is my mind naturally gravitates towards when a pencil is put into my hand and “Write” is my only command. I also believe that it is due to this extensive freewriting that I have found my particular writing talents, and indeed what I plan to do with them. At this point in time, my aspiration is to become either a novelist or a film screenwriter. Both of these jobs are difficult, hard to get started in, and inseparably tied to writing as an art. However, it is also through this freewriting and our other numerous tasks that I have found myself able to identify these goals and indeed bolster the confidence in my own abilities necessary to move forward with these careers. So, as can be seen with only a little digging, Andrew Reynolds has grown as a writer already in college. Perhaps, in the grand scheme of things, these past few months have not been such a long time and my changes over them will not be too monumental. However, I have already learned to appreciate writing more than my high school environment allowed for, and I fully plan to cultivate this appreciation into a full fledged mastery and possibly a job as well. I can only thank my experiences thus far at UMass for giving me these goals and the courage to go after them. In my first reflection letter, I closed with the statement “ In this light, it could be said that college writing has taught me how to master my writing thus far and opened me up to writing even better.” What I didn’t realize is how different it would be this relatively close down the road. So, I will change this closing statement for a new reflection. In this light, it could be said that college writing has already opened me up to writing even better, for which I am forever indebted, and given me the confidence to use this skill to change myself, my goals and my world. Theandrewreynoldsshow 17:34, 30 November 2006 (EST)