Freewriting about My "Writing Process"

I don't really have a set writing process. If I know what I want to write about and the details are clear in my mind, all I really have to do is organize them and see which ones I want to put in the essay. I don't make a physical outline of how my essay is going to be organized. Even though it would be nice to make an outline, it is easy for me to outline the essay in my head. Maybe for this essay I will make a physical essay. I think I have a writing process but it is a simple one. Organize the ideas in my head, outline the essay, and type. 

Reflection on Essay # 1

I enjoyed writing the literacy narrative. I liked that I was able to choose a topic that interested me and was able to convey my thoughts and opinions on the subject. I believe this is the first time since my junior year of high school where I was able to choose a topic and write about it. Most essays since then have been about something or someone which caused me to do research. This assignment reminded me of the assignments I would get in my creative writing class in high school. Since it was my own thoughts and opinions, I found the assignment very simple and straightforward. The only hard part of the literacy narrative was trying to remember some examples that I could include in the paper.

For the most part, I felt like I completed the paper to the best of my abilities. I stated my views and attitudes towards reading and writing, I also provided examples that backed up my views. If I could add something to my essay, it would be a paragraph dedicated to how I would improve my reading and writing skills. I would go in depth on some of the things I would do to become a better reader and writer and how improving those two skills would help me in the future. 

In conclusion, I would say the literacy narrative was a good first assignment. It took me a minimal amount of time to complete and I enjoyed writing it. I just wish there would be more assignments like this.

Free Write

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Response to Amy Tan's "Mother Tongue"

After reading Amy Tan's short story "Mother Tongue", my views about the type of English one speaks and how it is received by others have changed a little bit. I enjoyed reading this story. I feel like I can relate to this story because I also have parents whose primary language is not English. Me and my siblings understand my parents just fine when they are speaking English to us but some people outside of our family have trouble understanding them because it is a sort of broken English. Me and my siblings sometimes find ourselves translating words for my parents or even explaining their words to a person they are having a conversation with. Most of the time, other people understand my parents just fine even with the type of English they speak.


I always thought that most people would assist a person or try their best to assist that person despite that person speaking a different form of a language. There are a couple examples in this short story that say otherwise such as this.


"She said she had spoken very good English, her best English, no mistakes. Still, she said, the hospital did not apologize when they said they had lost the CAT scan and she had come for nothing." The hospital workers treated her with disrespect because she did not speak perfect English. Then her and daughter came and talked with the hospital staff. "And when the doctor finally called her daughter, me, who spoke in perfect English — lo and behold — we had assurances the CAT scan would be found, promises that a conference call on Monday would be held, and apologies for any suffering my mother had gone through for a most regrettable mistake."The hospital treated her daughter better because she spoke "perfect English." I liked how this story gave us these example because it helped me visual the situation.


I also enjoyed the ending. She changed her major to English because it was her true passion but also, I think she wanted to change the perception that people have to study the field they are strongest in. When she wrote her first book, she made it so easy to read that even her mother could call it easy. She responded, “So easy to read.”