This portfolio showcases three of the in-class essays that I have produced. I decided to order my works in the way that I did because this order represents what I enjoyed working on starting from least liked to most liked. I wanted to end with my favorite work, my poetry, because I want readers to finish going through this portfolio with a small look into my personal life and into where my inspiration and writing style may have came from.

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My formal writing style is very different from my creative writing style. In my formal writing style, I am very picky when using scholarly words and terms. I do not want to use surface-level words. I am working on expanding my vocabulary to do so. I am also aware of grammar, such as using the correct punctuation marks when needed and if a certain sentence is too long or too short. When I am writing a formal essay, I tend to get lost in the prompt. I will typically pick one topic to write on, but then I feel that I begin to ramble and to include material in the essay that may not be relevant to the prompt or to what I am trying to say. I will also get distracted very easily if I can’t put into words what I am trying to say. When this happens, it is, in a way, evident in my essay because the rest of the essay may seem like it is starting to derange from the original path that it was on. 

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My creative writing style is similar to, yet different from my formal writing style. In both styles, I am careful with my grammar and word choice, but for different reasons. When I am writing poetry, I strive to use figurative language that can leave room for interpretation by my readers. I typically do not use grammar in my poetry, but when I do, I want it to add meaning to the message of the poem. All of my poems come from my own experience or from a friend’s experience told through their perspective. I do not focus on rhyming because it takes away focus from what is being said in between the lines, although I may unintentionally rhyme. 

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When I start writing, it is usually close to midnight because this is when I am most focused. Most people are sleeping or starting to drift off into their own world, so there are few distractions. If I am really passionate and know about the topic, then I can easily write a couple of pages in a small time frame. However, if it is an assignment that I do not really care about and am just doing it for the grade, then I typically wait until the last minute to start working on it. I feel as if my best work comes at the last minute, when I am under pressure and under a deadline. I do not have time to overthink what I want to write, so I jump straight into it, and the words seem to flow one after one another.

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Being able to have people with other perspectives read my work and give me constructive feedback has really developed my writing and strengthened my writing skills. Through feedback, I realized that there are things that I do in my writing that slightly hurt my writing. I am now able to pick out these trends and notice them more quickly and efficiently. As a writer, I hope to publish some of my more creative works and build a name for myself. I further want to help young writers who may struggle with writing or want to pursue a career in writing. I want to be able to start an organization doing this while publishing creative works of my own for others to read and pull inspiration from.