Reflection #4

When it comes to workshops, I have mixed feelings. Sometimes I like workshops but at the same time, sometimes they make me quite nervous. In workshops, it is an opportunity for someone to review your work, critique and praise it as well. Some of things I’m afraid of in workshops are that someone might just completely shoot down my ideas that I have thought of. I’m usually afraid that someone might just say this is a horrible piece, why did you even write it? You need to completely change it. These kinds of things scare me because sometimes I am the type of person that is afraid of critiques, and it’s bad, because in life you can only improve yourself when people critique you.  I always fear that people might just hate my piece. I’m usually never confident in my work, but I have to realize that I must learn to become more confident in my writings; otherwise I can’t get by in the writing world, or even in the real world. Even the people that seem to be the most perfect have their flaws, and must be critiqued for something.

I believe that collaboration is a very important thing when it comes to writing. When you collaborate with someone or a group of people, you’re able to come up with more ideas for a story. You’re also able to receive constructive criticism on your story, and make it even better. The only thing bad about collaboration for me is sharing my stories to the class, or even to a minor group of people. When I have to share my stories, my heart starts skipping a beat, my mouth basically gets dry and I become very nervous. In Wolitzer’s story, she gets really nervous when she must present to the class and this directly relates to me.

“Anatole made a few opening remarks and then, after consulting a list, called on me to come up front and read my story aloud to the class. Caught off guard, I had to spit out my gum and stumble forward, dropping a few pages along the way. I was s nervous I almost hyperventilated, and I read with the dramatic expression usually reserved for the laundry list or the eye chart” (Wolitzer 266).

This quote talks about how nervous Wolitzer was when she had to go present her story in front of the class. I directly relate to this because before I felt exactly like this when I had to present in front of the class. I was so scared, I would start shaking, my mouth turned dry, my heart would be racing and in some occasions I would starting feeling hot. I’m not exactly sure why I had so much fear, but sometimes I think it’s because I have the fear of embarrassment, or too much criticism about my story. Sometimes I treat my writing so precious like a baby, I don’t want anyone to hurt it, tarnish it, or criticize it.  This relates to when the guy in Wolizter’s essay said that her story was the most boring he as ever heard, and she wanted to just drop everything, and go back to her home life. (Wolitzer 266). I fear embarrassment like that, but over the years, I have grown to become more confident. When I get up in front of a crowd to speak, I’m not as afraid to speak up or share my work I realized that it’s very important to share your work, and receive criticisms because that is the only way that you can get better with your work. Before when I refused to allow anyone to read my work, I wouldn’t get high grades on my papers. But now, when I share, and let people critique and praise it, I get much better grades and I am quite proud of myself for learning to speak up more.

            In my writing, I hope to improve on using more descriptive details. In my writing, I tend to not use enough descriptive detail. These kinds of details bring the reader in. I need to add more but not too much because when there is too much description n a story, people that are reading it start to get bored. I have many experiences with stories like this because sometimes stories that have so much description that go into extreme detail make me want to sleep. When you have just enough in your story, it brings the reader into the right direction, and the reader won’t get too bored.  I plan on achieving these goals in my workshop by asking the group what they think about my story, and what I should improve on, and I will tell them to be brutally honest. It’s very important to be honest in these kinds of workshops because without honesty, nothing can really get done.

            I can keep myself on task and help others by focusing story by story in our groups. It’s much better to do that instead of working on so many different stories at once. We also have to make sure everyone is attentive and interested; otherwise people probably won’t give the best constructive criticism. Keeping myself on task won’t be too hard, unless I get distracted. I think that it’s better if you workshop with people that aren’t your friends because usually when you workshop with people that are your friends, they’ll probably have more of a soft spot for you and won’t honestly critique your story, unless they’re quite honest people. Also, with friends it’s easy to get distracted with friends but with people you don’t really associate yourself with, it’s easier to get work done and have a more productive workshop. 

Robinson, Roxana “Embarking Together on Solitary Journeys” Writers on Writing 263-268. Print.