Reflective Essay: What I Learned In My Writing Class

Looking back at the beginning of this semester I was unsure of why I was in this class to begin with. I had thought that my writing was good enough to pass any class that Lake Land had to offer, but I was completely wrong. The things I have learned this semester of what not to put in my papers is a lot more than I think I have ever learned in a class before. I have learned to proofread my papers better, proper punctuation, and just to relax and not overthink my topic. Proofreading my papers has always been a weak spot for my writing. I was always one for just hurrying through the essay and then turning it in, thinking I was too good to make those small errors. When I got those papers back I started to realize I was not the young Hemmingway I thought I was, so I started proofreading my work. After I started doing this, my grades slowly got better but they still were not satisfactory to me.

If I cannot relax and concentrate on what I am going to write, then I work myself into a confused panic that just wastes time. I have done many things to try to snap myself out of this mindset, and this semester I found the solution. Just staring a blank page makes me panic, but if I can get the first sentence out then unplugging the computer is the only way to get me to stop writing. I have learned that I overthink the topic, so just starting helps me calm down and frees my mind from this anxiety. Everything just starts flowing when I just start typing, not really focused on writing the paper. I just feel the sentences write themselves almost, and before I know it the entire paper seems to be done. There have been a few times when I struggled to end a paper with the proper sentence or wording, but I eventually figured it out after taking a short break. Although trying to put the correct words together to make a proper conclusion was difficult, I never gave