KELLY OWENS

Why I Write - Assignment I

 

I think that of all the assignments we were given this semester, big and small, this was my favorite. This specific essay implored me to look within myself and uncover why I enjoyed writing. This was never something I had considered, and it's made me think of a lot of things differently. For example, simply having to ask myself why I loved something was a challenge in of itself. I have always defined myself by likes and dislikes, never paying much mind to the reasoning behind each characteristic. Now, I challenge myself daily whenever likes or dislikes come up, and often in other scenarios, as well.

 

I've included both of my drafts here because I feel they are both relevant. The process of writing and revising this piece was difficult for me. The first link - the original -  focuses on my lack of short-term memory and subsequent need to write everything down, and the other on my desire to remember people, places and things long-term. I then discuss my love for reading and writing about people and telling stories, and connect that back to why it is that I write: to remember and to ensure that others will, too. 

 

One of the comments I received on this first draft was how attempting to remember something I loved could affect my memory-making ability, as we typically recall such items with a much greater ease. Only one thing came to mind when I considered what I truly loved, and that was dance. I thought about how I could still remember significant chunks of the first dance I ever did, and how this speaks to memory. Perhaps, instead, I write when I cannot dance. I write because it's the closest I can get to something that I love.

 

In any case, this may seem like rambling, but I thoroughly enjoyed this assignment as it called upon my pre-existing nostalgia and love of telling stories. After completing the other two assignments, I can see that I really have come full circle and proved the point I made in the first draft.