Why I Write
The “Why I Write” assignment was the first project of the semester; however, I completed it last because I had not fully discovered why I write yet. Prior to this project, I never really thought about or considered why I write. So, like all thought-ptovoking and personal prompts, this project was very difficult for me. Eventually, however, I was able to closely relate to Joan Didion’s, “Why I Write” piece and realized that like Didion, I too write to find out “what I’m thinking, what I’m looking at, what I see, and what it means.” Even with this idea, expressing it through text was still a battle. Eventually, I decided to transform my written text into a written interview and then finally a video. I answered two questions in the video:
-
What does writing mean to you?
-
Why do you write?
I chose these two questions because I believed that answering them would best explain why I write and who I am and how I define myself as a writer. Reflecting on my decision, I would have done this project differently. Although defining me as writer via text was difficult, I would have taken on the challenge and kept the project as written text instead. I am often intimidated by thought-provoking, mind-draining writing assignments; however, after I complete those assignments and reflect on my experience, I realize that overcoming the challenge added more definition to me as a writer and more strength to my writing and critical thinking abilities. Since I allowed the intimidating prompt to turn me away from writting in text, all I can do is wonder about how my writing and how I as a writer could have grown.