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Neda Riaziat

Writing 2

10 June 2022

Reflective Letter

Dear Professor Chajdas,

From the first day of class I knew that Writing 2 would not be your typical writing class. I

was often mystified by the strange projects you would assign us. Whether it be to draw a comic

expressing our ideas or to watch a weird movie about obstructions, I didn’t understand why we

were straying from the format of writing classes that I was familiar with. Looking back now, I

realize that those strange, seemingly random projects were exactly what kept my interest

throughout class, long enough to actually improve my writing.

One of my biggest weaknesses as a writer was never knowing where to start. I would

often procrastinate assignments because the first draft was always something that I dreaded. The

reading “Shitty First Drafts” by Anne Lamott really helped me overcome this challenge. Seeing

an accomplished writer admit to her own weaknesses made me feel a lot less embarrassed about

my own shortcomings. By making her article humorous, I felt more inclined to pay attention and

really learn something. Now I actually enjoy first drafts. They’re a silly way for me to get out all

of my absurd ideas while still being able to get work done.

Writing Project One was the perfect personification of my inability to understand writing

prompts. I had to write the essay multiple times as I kept confusing the type of essay we were

meant to write and what aspects of our academic papers we were supposed to focus on. This

essay helped me shift my analysis focus from ‘how does this author use diction to invoke a
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certain emotion’ to ‘how does the author’s use of this emotion strengthen their argument.’ In this

revision for the portfolio I tried to strengthen that sort of analysis.

I actually felt the least confident about Writing Project Three, which is why I was

surprised to receive my best grade. I struggled understanding what aspects of the film I could

include without revealing any major plot points, and which elements of the film I was supposed

to analyze. Films often have very abstract arguments which initially confused me. With this

revision I realized that the purpose of the review was not to create a scene by scene analysis to

help the audience understand the creator’s message, but rather to convey to the audience whether

or not the creator is successful in producing a message and the different elements they use to do

so.

My greatest takeaway from this class was understanding genres. Prior to Writing 2, I

thought that genres only applied to books, music, and movies. I’ll admit that while Dirk’s

“Navigating Genres” and Bickmore’s “Genre in the Wild” helped me create a vague

understanding of genre, it was really Writing Project Two’s genre translation that allowed me to

fully understand the concept. McCloud’s “Writing with Pictures” provided an engaging format to

help me understand the many different components that must be taken into consideration when

writing in a specific genre.

Looking back on the first day of class compared to now, I realize that the reason why I

failed my AP Lang test and received so many bad marks in my high school writing classes was

that I am a slow writer and I cannot create a good piece of writing in a time crunch. I need to

write 100 shitty first drafts and spend weeks rereading it. This class allowed for me to take the

time necessary to create a good essay.

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Being in this class truly helped me develop a sense of confidence for myself and my

writing. The unconventional, sometimes even uncomfortable, techniques this class used really

ingrained the necessary, foundational concepts into my mind and helped me flourish.

Thank you.

Warmly,

Neda Riaziat
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Works Cited

Mantyla, Nikki. “GENRE in the WILD: Understanding Genre Within Rhetorical (Eco)systems –

Open English @ SLCC.” Open English @ SLCC,

https://openenglishatslcc.pressbooks.com/chapter/genre-in-the-wild-understanding-genre-

within-rhetorical-ecosystems/. Accessed 10 June 2022.

“Navigating Genres.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, edited by Charles Lowe and Pavel

Zemliansky, Parlor Press, 2010, pp. 249-262. Accessed 10 June 2022.

“Shitty First Drafts.” Bird by bird, by Anne Lamott, Anchor Books, 1995. Accessed 10 June

2022.

“Writing With Pictures.” Understanding Comics, by Scott McCloud, edited by Mark Martin,

Kitchen Sink Press, 1993, pp. 163-187. Accessed 10 June 2022.