Reflective Essay: Writing My Literary Autobiography
As an English major and writing minor student, writing is obviously a passion of mine. It is one that I want to share with the world, or anyone willing to stick with me and read what I have say, in written form. With my experience in writing, writing a literary autobiography should have been an easy feat, however I faced challenges along the way. Knowing what to include and what to exclude was probably the hardest part of writing this paper. I have worked in the journalism field and this mentality was transferring over into the autobiography as a hurdle that I needed to make my way over. Once I did, I found that it was easier to let my thoughts flow onto paper. Coming up with a formula, along with other planning techniques, definitely assisted in creating my literary autobiography.
Going back as far as I could to remember certain aspects was not easy. I feel like I have a bad memory. Focusing on one aspect of my past made it a little easier to remember bits and pieces. I remembered the collection of books that I had forgotten about. I then remembered a few volumes in this collection that I was very fond of. Then, the memories of some of the nursery rhymes flooded in. I remembered Baa Baa Black Sheep, Little Miss Muffet, and many others. I always remembered how the nursery rhymes went, but I didn’t recall the books that encouraged my memorization of them. This not only assisted in my literary autobiography, but also in realizing just how much it influenced many aspects of my writing and literary knowledge.
I gained further information in conversations with my mom. I asked her what my first words were and what she remembered of my early years in writing and reading. She didn’t discuss much about writing but recalls that I had Dr. Suess books and that I loved to play “school”. She reminded me that I always wanted to play the role of the teacher that graded the work completed by my playmates.
I utilized a mapping method to get started with the assignment. Realizing that we had covered a couple of very useful topics in our journal entries, I utilized three of those entries. I used the entries in which I wrote about my experience in reading and in writing. I also utilized my entry in which I discuss my definition of “language”. Reflecting on my previous journal entries, I will most likely use information from my Writing I’m Proud Of and Concept 1: Writing is a Social and Rhetorical Activity entries in my final draft. This method assisted in creating a road map of what direction I wanted to take and stay focused and not stray.
Deciding what to include and what to exclude was more of a challenge than anything. It is easy to talk about accomplishments and passions, but to keep the reader engaged and hit the main points without carrying it out too long, was the challenge I faced. I had to make the decision to not include some sample poetry and talk a lot about my favorite poets and musicians. After completing the rough draft, I have come to the conclusion that I will include some of this information in the final draft because I think it is important to give more of an insight to who I am and how they have impacted my journey in literacy.
The beginning of the rough draft read quite stale to me. I felt like it was lacking in personality. At the time of writing my initial draft, I thought the extensive research information positively added to the context of my idea and research. Alternatively, I felt it contained too much research information and not enough of how it applied to me. Subsequently, I still enjoyed the information I included, and decided to reword some of this for section for my final draft. This realization is essential to me as a learner because it made me come to the conclusion that I felt this was necessary to make my autobiography a bit more personable.
Working in the field of journalism both assisted in writing my autobiography and hindered in some areas, as well. It has helped with my confidence in writing and the ability to formulate my opinions and ideas in creative writing. However, this genre of writing is entirely different. I had to get out of the mindset of the journalistic structure. I was allowed to use “I” and “me” in my work, which is something I was not used to as a former journalist. This is also not usually allowed in papers written for school. This is why I included a lot more about the research, rather than the effects of the research. This was definitely a hurdle to overcome.
Ultimately, writing my literary autobiography has reintroduced a genre of writing that I know and love. Having experienced some challenges, I now feel that it was more meaningful to utilize them as a positive tool in writing my literary autobiography, rather than just overcoming them. For me, the most significant aspect of my autobiography was to write it in a fashion that best describes who I am as a writer and how my journey in literature has paved the way to where I stand today.
