The first class brainstorming we had helped me a lot as I already had an idea of a specific event that was important to me. All I had to do was expand on what I had written that first day. Additionally, having that first brainstorm on physical paper subconsciously made it as if it was a foundation. I think if it were first online I would’ve changed it beyond the original intent I had in mind. Initially, I created a pseudo-timeline that doubled as a list for three texts and multimodal works. I ordered them chronologically and thought to myself about how they impacted my life and went on from there. Additionally, the peer review really helped me add in more sensory detail and keep things less cluttered.
One big thing I did that I really liked was halfway through writing a sentence, I’d get an idea of another. So instead of finishing what I was writing, I would immediately write down what I thought of in the margins to come back to later. It helped me not forgot what I suddenly thought of, but also let that new sentence I wanted simmer in my mind so if needed, I could adjust it.
Freely writing whatever given a prompt and then going back and fixing it up later was a good technique that significantly improved my writing. I was able to draft out a rough outline of what I wanted and then I was able to polish it up later depending on the section requirements. It let me spill everything I wanted to address on the paper and then pick and choose what I specifically wanted to be mentioned, but since I could also experiment with different phrases, words, or writing styles it meant I was always able to have a different option in terms of my finalized section(s). Additionally, after writing a section I would come back later and review it with a fresh pair of eyes. It would give me a new perspective on my writing and I’d be able to see flaws more easily and it improved my word flow. Grammarly and the default spelling/grammar checker also ensured that at least the mechanics of my writing (hopefully) made sense.
The peer reviews were critical for me to see what areas I was lacking in and how I could improve them. Having someone view your writing is a huge help as they can see shortcomings that you may not notice in your writing. Feedback from others is always beneficial and especially helps me in my writing such as when one of mine mentioned a sentence I had said, “Even to those with an anthropological background, this particular effigy jar isn’t that appealing, but gaining an understanding of the culture as a whole, could have some use”. Reading it now I understand how it’s wrong, but I must’ve missed it when I was writing and I was able to correct it to “even to those with an anthropological background, this particular effigy jar isn’t that appealing on its own, but it could be used to gain an understanding of the culture as a whole.” Having others hold me accountable made me reconsider some portions to make them better in the end. I also think that giving feedback on other people’s work helped inspire me with new ideas or reminded me of specific portions I could touch up and improve. Thinking about someone else’s work instead of my own shifted my gaze which allowed me to come back to my writing with a new perspective.