By looking through my journals I can see the growth in my writing. In the beginning my journals were more focused on just answering the prompt. It felt more like essay writing than journal writing. As the semester has passed, I have learned that journal writing is meant for me to branch out my ideas on the topic, that it doesn’t have to be so focused on the prompt. I learned that the prompt is there to give me ideas on what to write about so that I can explore my interpretation of the reading or the film. I like that my writing really does show my flow of thoughts and I like that as I write my journals I figure out new meanings behind symbols and certain elements that I originally didn’t know or didn’t have the intention of writing about. What I don’t like about it is that to me it feels like its simple writing, I don’t necessarily support all my claims sufficiently, sometimes I just move on to another topic which is a bad habit for when it comes to formal essay writing.
Since journal writing is my only experience with informal writing for a class it has helped me become a better writer by making me more confident with my writing. Before, I viewed writing as something I had to do in order to get through the class, I only wrote to pass the assignments. This meant my writing was very focused. It was mainly planned out essays in which I put a lot of thought and took time writing and revising and editing. Because of the long process of writing I always dreaded doing it. However, writing journals has opened up a whole different side of writing for me. These journals aren’t simply assignments they’re expressions of my thoughts and opinions on what I just read or saw. They let me write more freely without the worry of structure, or answering a thesis. My ideas can flow between topics and this lets me understand the reading more or appreciate the film more. This is why I enjoy writing journals. I can write without the worry of a grade or of getting off topic. Writing is created to help us express our thoughts on paper and now I can truly appreciate that and my thoughts.
