1. Characterizing Yourself as a Writer

Most writing I do now is freewriting or journaling. I began journaling at a very young age of seven. I received a diary as a Christmas present from my Grandmother. She encouraged me to log thoughts, feelings, and events I had throughout the day. I have continued to keep a journal over the years.
I began freewriting a few years ago. It was suggested to me when I had a problem to write about it. If I didn't know what to write, or became blocked, to write anything. For example, names, places, short thoughts; it doesn't have to make sense, as long as I continue to write my mind will form thoughts, and my feelings will begin to be written on the problem at hand. I may not end with a solution, but I will have a better idea of what to do or how to handle the situation. After freewriting about a troublesome situation I do feel better. There are times that I do read over things that I have journaled. I usually do not edit anything that I have written in my journals or freewriting. The reason for this is I am the only one to see these entries.
I am beginning to do essays again. I have not written an essay in over a decade. I am somewhat intimidated by the thought of an essay. Our text tells us to keep a positive attitude. I do not want to have a self-fulfilled prophecy of failure. For the most part my thoughts are upbeat about the process involved in writing an essay. In the past, from what I can recall, I began with an outline. When creating the outline I would decide what would be written about and how to put it all together.
From the outline I would write a rough draft. When reading my completed rough draft I would edit my paper. Usually I would find grammar and spelling mistakes as well as a better way to link my ideas. After editing, I would revise my paper to the final draft and submit my work.
All of the writing I have done has been handwritten. I have not had an opportunity or a need to write anything on a computer, except a resume. I will be introduced to a new concept when typing my thoughts and having the advantage of spell check and grammar help from the computer program. I am looking forward to this.