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Keelea Krear

Professor Jizi

UWRT 1104

8 May 2017

Past Authoring Reflection

Level 1: Looking Back

I started this project with a simple "cluster graph" just to get ideas on paper. I used Professor

Jizi's idea of just writing down what came to my mind first. My goal was to establish a solid idea

from my "cluster graph." The ideas I came up with for my graph were moments that stood out

significantly to me from my past life. When I needed help with my essay, I often referred to my

roommate. She took Professor Jizi's class last semester, so her advice often helped me get out of

a writing block. The supplemental assignments that helped me create my essay were the in-class

writings. The in-class writings that were most useful for this piece were some of my free-

writings where I depicted my feelings about my family life. Since I wrote about a traumatic

family event, free-writings helped me develop the parts of my essay which were about how close

my family is. Creating my essay was not easy for me. I am a pretty closed off person, and having

to write about my feelings is not something I love to do. However, I pushed myself to be more

vulnerable in my essay to allow a more personal view.

Level 2: Evaluation

I believe my final essay came out better than I had expected in the beginning. In the beginning,

my essay was a complete mess, with no direction. However, after peer feedback and revision, I

think the final essay seemed organized and thoughtful. I had never shared this story from my life,
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but sharing the story lifted a weight off my shoulders. I felt like I had never talked about the

experience I had gone through, and bottling it in all these years was not healthy for me. I believe

I was able to depict rawness and love through my essay. I think I did a particularly good job on

the explanation on my self-growth. I think the part of my essay that could have used a little help

was the portion about my father's disease.

Level 3: Looking Ahead

Next time, I think I would go more in depth. I think I have developed so much as a writer this

semester. In my opinion, I would be able to share more personal moments that I was

uncomfortable sharing earlier in the semester. Skills I can use from this project in the future are

being more open with people and learning to let people in. I have always felt like letting people

know what I have been through made me weak, but my view has changed after writing this

essay. I now believe that sharing my experiences allows others to gain perspective and strength

from them.