Ryan Swenson

“Portrait of a Writer”

            In Kent Haruf’s written piece he describes all sorts of places where writers from past and present prefer to work in. Whether it be in a basement, or leaning over a refrigerator, it is the writer’s preference that helps them concentrate to get their works done. For me, when I write I definitely prefer to be somewhere secluded from other people. I like silence and to be alone with my thoughts when I am writing. I can have music on or headphones in, as long as I’m the only one in my thoughts then I’m alright. If the weather permits, I’d love to be able to write outside. I like the outdoors, especially on a cool summer day with a slight breeze. Laying down in the soft green grass with those conditions are when I am at peace with life. I love hearing all of the sounds of nature and all the sights it has to offer. I also love rainy days and being able to be right next to a window when I’m writing. I like the sound of the rain as it hits the window. It soothes me and is relaxing whenever I am stressing about finishing some type of work. The problem is I’ve always lived somewhere where it is simply too cold for more than half the year to be in that situation or any other type of nice, warm weather. So I often find myself secluded in my bedroom, or now, in my dorm room. If my roommate is present then I throw in the headphones or if he is gone sometimes I’ll just sit and be quiet with my thoughts. I like to be in a calm state whenever I am about to write any essay or paper. It helps me think clearly and not get distracted by the other choices that college has to offer. When I’m in my zone is when I seem to be able to write the best. If I ever get some sort of writer’s block, I often can recognize it right away. From there, I often will take a break and just not think about the topic or whatever it may be that I am working on. My break could involve getting a snack or a drink, turning on the TV for a few minutes, or even resting my eyes for a little. I just need to calm down and really relax to be able to write smoothly and efficiently. After, I’ve done so I can really get back into the swing of things by reading what I have written and seeing where I can go from there or try and brainstorm new ideas that I haven’t thought of yet which really gets the process going again.

            Another aspect that really makes writing more interesting to me is topics. In almost every class except one my junior year of high school, I had to write about topics that I quite frankly didn’t give a s*** about. This made writing especially difficult for me because as is I don’t already like writing that much, it didn’t help one little bit that I had to write about boring topics or readings that I either didn’t gain any useful knowledge from or just plain thought was a waste of my time. I really don’t like being forced to write a certain length paper on something that I in the first place despise. On top of that I really, really hate when on top of that they make you have a certain structure, style, and/or format that they require you to do in your paper. Like are you seriously making me write about a topic that you chose, then make me write this topic in a way you want me to write it? That always frustrated me because it always seemed that if I had an interesting topic that I found interesting, then I could really create some interesting pieces of writing. On top of that if I could write freely (Obviously have some structure if I were to turn it in) instead of having to worry about every little sentence and punctuation in my paper then writing would be a more enjoyable and less frustrating. I feel like in writing there should be no set structure like an introduction, body, conclusion, etc. I understand how that could help others follow along with your writings, however, I think that writing in itself should come from inspiration that you draw from topics you enjoy, and, with that, the structure should come from what you feel is an appropriate way to present your own work and not what others think of you. Teachers always would tell other students and myself at the beginning of the year/semester that from reading our papers they would recognize our style and type of writing, but I would always put that into question when they were handing out a writing assignment that they had a required format that you have to have in order to get the grade you want to receive. Then to further that they make you include a certain number of sources to cite and how many times you have to quote your sources. So where does my own style come into this? It never made sense to me.

            Now that I’m done with my rant I’d like to include what makes me the writer I am today. For me I tend to draw my future works on examples I’ve seen from the past. The information/advice that I’ve received in the past, I will then use in future works. Then once I get critique from that work, I try to constantly improve. But that’s an aspect of English that definitely gets me angry. It seems like you can always improve and what you’re doing can always be better. I suppose you can view that in a pessimistic view or an optimistic view. The pessimistic is that you’re writing will never be the best it can. However, the optimistic would be that with each piece that I write, my writing is getting stronger. I’ve tended to be more of a pessimist of this because as is English never tickled my fancy. But I suppose those two views can be applicable to almost every aspect of life. Maybe I’m being difficult because I always consider myself a math and science guy. If I get stuck on a problem in math I’ll go over my work and look for mistakes but in English when I get stuck in either papers or any work really I get angry and begin to question why it is important or why I have to do what I do. It’s just that with math you know that if you put an addition sign where a minus sign was, you can easily find and change that then move on. English however, you could make an entire paper, then realize that your organization might be a disaster, or you’re straying off topic a lot towards the middle and the end, and now you need to start your entire paper over. I do sound extremely lazy with those last few sentences, but if you don’t have a love for a certain topic, subject, etc. then it does make writing seem like the worst chore of all for me. I can’t stand pointlessly writing about what an author means in chapter when it’s a boring piece to me in the first place. If I could choose a book that I had a general interest for then it’d be much better. Look at me, I was gonna talk about me as a writer and again, I find myself in another paragraph of ranting.

(This was over 3 pages double-spaced, I don’t know how to make this double-spaced on the blog)