Ziegler 1

Holly Ziegler

Professor Burleson

English 1302

04 December 2022

Reflective Essay

Creative content for writing has always come naturally for me. I enjoy creating and when given

an assignment, I seem to always run with several ideas. I can fill a page with creative words; however,

through all my creativity, I tend to lose track of the assignment or question at hand. I also focus too much

on the word count and obsess over expressing my creativity and showcasing how much of a “good writer”

I am. While immersing in my writing, I end up missing the point and my papers do not have a clear

direction or are extremely wordy. I also often think using big words will prove my knowledge and

understanding of the assignment. Additionally, I had a hard time avoiding distractions throughout the

English course.

The most interesting thing I learned about myself was that the brain is indeed a muscle and the

more you use it, the stronger it gets. At the beginning of the course, I could not work more than 2 hours at

a time. This meant taking multiple breaks during writing sessions. I would often find myself gazing out

the window, thinking about past or future events, and inviting distractions such extending phone calls

with friends or telling my grandmother I was, in fact, interested in the card game drama her and the ladies

were experiencing, so I would not have to go back to writing. I thought the course was more difficult with

a shortened timeframe. Essays were usually due once a week with high word counts. Thankfully, as the

course progressed, I was able to write for longer periods of time. My ability to focus strengthened. I also

found that the less time I spent searching the thesaurus for larger words, the more time I had to write. I

found simplicity also makes a paper more enjoyable to read.

My solution to take the focus off the word count and filling the pages with my “creative content”

was to start each answer with the question at hand before typing my answer. I rephrased the question and

answer it first before continuing to write. I can usually answer the question in 1-2 sentences. Once I
 Ziegler 2

answer the question specifically, then I will allow my creativity to go in the right direction. Additionally, I

would turn my phone on silent or leave it in the other room while I was working so I would feel less

inclined to allow the details of Patricia and Linda’s latest cheating scandal regarding Wednesdays bridge

game distract me.

Answering the question first, before continuing to write, has proven to work for me in week 7 of

the English course. My ability to focus for longer periods of time and finish an assignment in one sitting

has allowed for more time to re-read essays. Upon re-reading the essays, I saw major improvements in the

essay flow. While I cannot eliminate every distraction, leaving my phone in the other room is feasible

proposal for anyone encountering distractions during writing. Checking social media, the weather, and

saving important discussions with my grandmother for the weekends, grants me more time for writing

and removes distractions.