Co-Curricular Plan Reflection

I was pleasantly surprised with how much I learned from these two authors; I definitely
did not expect to be as engaged as I was. They both touched on amazing subjects and there were
things that I admired and envied about each of their writing styles and books. I think there are
some similarities between them, and some of my takeaways and the next steps I have given
myself to develop my writing skills are the same. 
With Ashley Blooms’ conversation, I absolutely loved hearing that one of the reasons she
wrote her book was because she hated the way the media portrayed the subject. Her book is
about sexual abuse, but it focuses on the road to recovery rather than the actual events. I have
never read a book about this topic, so I am not sure how many books out there are like hers, but I
think it is interesting how she took it down a different path. When it comes to the media’s
portrayal of sexual abuse, I agree wholeheartedly that they always focus on the occurrence, who
did it, and what happened to the abuser. The media never follows up with how the victim is
coping, and I feel like when I read articles about this, it is so centered on the abuser. I think her
source of inspiration is an incredibly tough one, but I personally believe her book needed to be
written. Blooms is a survivor herself and mentioned that she wrote her book based on how she
wished the media showed it. She also said she was not sure if anyone would even be interested in
her book. Using personal experiences and beliefs in writing is difficult for me, and I know I have
also felt that struggle of wondering if what I am writing about is important. I watched a recording
since it happened at the same time as a class, but I do wish I had the chance to ask her how she
overcame that worry. I often avoid subjects that are too personal because I dislike when others
read a piece of me. I feel that when it comes to my work, it is easy to tell what came from my
head and what came from my heart, and it is so scary to put yourself out there in that way. 
With this book, she said she learned how to write it as she went. I can most definitely
relate to that. Thinking about my midterm story, I simply launched into it and just made it up as I
went. I had no outline, no idea of where I was going with it. While I usually try to have an
outline for my stories and I know that just going for it is not the smartest writing process, I think
that it helped a lot to not know where I was taking this idea. In our conference about my midterm
story, I mentioned how I realized some of my language contrasted- in the beginning, before the
murder, everything felt dark and harsh and lonely. By the time the story concluded, post-murder,
my choice of words had become more peaceful and gentler. That actually was not something that
was intentional, and I do not think that I ever would have thought of doing that had I sat down
and prepared an outline. Blooms also said that as she went, she began using sticky notes and
labels to write down her ideas. I did not really get the chance to do that, because rather than write
a novel, I wrote a 1-page piece of flash fiction. However, I would like to steal that process of
outlining as you go. I wonder if that would be a good balance for me, being able to just attack at
an idea that just comes to me but incorporating new ideas and working the story as I go. It is hard
for me to have a general plotline of my stories because when I start writing, new thoughts and
ideas pop into my head and then I wish I had written something else, or I want to go back and
start over. But going in completely blind is also a struggle, because then I feel lost and there are
so many avenues that I could take that my mind goes blank and I cannot write at all. By using
her process, my hope is that I am able to enjoy writing more because I will be able to try out new
routes while keeping a reign on the amount of freedom I have. 

Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi’s book focuses on some topics that I love learning about,
feminism and classism. Her take on these ideas were so interesting and unique to me, such as
how we women are contributing to our own oppression, we have been taught to use our beauty to
get us what we want, or (switching topics here) how children are not as blind to classism as we
think they are. I love how her book covers these important topics and how she is able to
challenge our perspectives on them through a work of fiction, and without explicitly addressing
them. That is certainly something I want to do. While fiction is very fun to read, I think now my
tastes have changed a bit and I want to read more works that challenge me. Learning how to
write fiction yet work in intellectual ideas and subjects without it being obvious would be a huge
development in my writing. While I have never tried to do this, I know it would be a challenge. I
do not think I’m ready to attempt this yet, and I think this is something I cannot do as an
inexperienced, beginner writer. Although I am not sure how I would come about feeling ready,
because I am my own worst critic. It might just be my mindset, because in my mind, I will never
be as good of a writer as these professionals (no matter how much I practice) and I will never be
able to achieve the levels of depth that they manage. I try to think about it now and it confuses
me- how are professional writers able to drum up an idea, yet include subtopics and smaller ideas
and create something worth analyzing in a literature class? I struggle with picking just one topic
and sticking with it. That is something I could try with my next story, although I usually write
flash fiction and doing this would not really work well with it. I think trying to have multiple
ideas and subplots within a piece of flash fiction would just complicate things and make it
messy. But that is another challenge- to step outside of my comfort zone and to write a longer
story. I choose to write flash fiction because otherwise, I bore myself. But maybe by making my
subject matter more complex, the idea of writing longer works would be more appealing to me.
Makumbi mentioned a piece of writing advice that I find incredibly helpful. She says to
write as if you are speaking to an audience that you can be yourself around. And I have never
heard anyone suggest that before, but it really resonates with me. When I write, I try to make
things sound elegant, but it is definitely not the way I would speak to anyone. I wonder if there is
some middle ground between having this sophisticated language yet feeling like I’m being
myself as well. It is also difficult to think about my targeted audience and the way I write. If we
pretended, I was a professional author, and I wrote a book intended for young adults, I am sure
that people in older generations would also read it. And the way I would write to a group of high
school and college students as well as people in their early twenties is much different compared
to the way I would write in stories my parents or grandparents could read. How does Makumbi
do it, how does she find that balance? While I do not have to worry about this (as I am far from
being a professional writer), I do wonder how other authors/writers do it. One of the biggest
obstacles I feel that I face when I am writing is my language. I am not an eloquent speaker, and it
is even harder for me to articulate what I want to say on paper as well. There are some things that
I can say out loud that manage to make sense, but I cannot figure out how to rephrase it when in
writing, which is when I try to sound more formal. I do not know if authors have this issue as
well, as I am sure it comes at least somewhat easily to them. But if I could ask Makumbi, I
would interview her on her word choices and how to write simply yet powerfully.
To be completely honest, I had no idea how beneficial these literary events were going to
be. When I first heard we would have to do this co-curricular plan, I thought I would just go to
some events and B.S. my way through it. I am very glad to say this did not end up being the case.
I was enamored with the two events I (virtually) attended. I did learn so much from Ashley
Blooms and Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi, and I was enlightened on some techniques they use
that I am excited to steal in the future. They did make me question who I was as a writer, and
through my questions that arose, I have created a list of writing goals for myself. I have never
spoken with these authors before, and they have no idea who I am, yet I love that they have
already pushed me to be a better writer and to try new things.