Before I came to college, I had always thought that when it came to writing papers, I would be following strict guidelines. Now that I am in the second unit of my writing class, I have come to realize that writing is a lot harder when you actually have to do most of the thinking yourself. I had never thought that simply picking a topic and its structure would be so hard but I was wrong. This Literary Guide is like nothing that I have ever done before, but I feel that by doing it I will become a better writer.
All throughout our early education we were taught to follow rules. Not just general rules of the classroom but rules of learning as well. Whenever we were assigned projects, our teachers handed us a paper with specific rules and topics and all we had to do was go from there. These rules are not as concrete now that we are in college. Now we are faced with broad assignments and have to think of how we want to go about completing the project. This new found freedom isn’t just within our classes, but in our lives as well. When we were dropped off on the doorsteps of our dormitories in early August, we knew that we were here for college but there weren’t any specific rules telling us exactly how we were supposed to do so. It was up to us to determine how we wanted to study, sleep, and everything else in between.
This was by far one of the biggest challenges that I faced in writing this semester. Every paper that I wrote in high school came with a set of instructions the size of the US tax code. I felt comfortable with all of the rules because they basically did all of the writing for me and all I had to do was put in the words. It didn’t take me long to realize that Mrs. Forgette doesn’t play this way. She knew from the start that each and every one of us had our own unique writer deep down within our subconscious that was simply waiting to be found. I like rules because without them we would be living in a world a constant chaos. Even with my adherence to rules, I have started to enjoy the creative freedom that we have used this semester. I know that if Mrs. Forgette had given enormous sets of instructions that I never would have written any of my paper the same. I think that the “no rule” environment allowed me to produce the best pieces of work that I have ever done.