Back in August when I started in the creative writing course, as a student, I was passionate, openminded, and eager to learn; I still am actually. As a writer, I came into this course with experience as a skilled writer, but of course not a professional, which means I was open to learning. The first section my class dove into was the poetry section. Personally, this was one of my favorite ones. I wrote so many different poems about my dog’s POV to a subway poem with a theme that carried the idea of journey. My final subway poem, titled “Gyri” I wrote it from the heart about my partner, and it seemed to be enjoyable and I got the job done. Some feedback was that the journey theme resonated on many levels and many subway riders would enjoy and appreciate my poem. Moreover, it wouldn’t be right if I didn’t tell you my favorite poem from this section of the course. A poem that stood out to me was “South Side (V)” by Taylor Byas. I valued the poet’s idea of home as the surroundings that made her feel like home or was at home. Reading the poem reminded me of The Bronx and brought about a sense of nostalgia. I particularly liked the link that read, “Mr. Bradley, Joshua ‘nem, their presence steady as statues.” I appreciated slang. Overall, writing poetry is one of my favorite things to do, I like to be unconventional and not so direct; I like to make people think and leave room for a lot of interpretation.
As the course went on and as we tackled more literary bodies of work like writing a short story and monologue, I began to grow my knowledge in playwriting and how to construct a short story. I am able to say today that I have bodies of work to prove my knowledge and growth. For example, my playwright was not perfect. I was able to create an interesting story and have some type of dramatic action, but I struggled to emphasize as much as I should. After receiving feedback, that was one of the main issues with my playwright. Even with reading the works by Etgar Keret and Karina Sainz Bargo, I was able to curate creative depth and versatility that I tried to incorporate in my works.
In the same light, one of my favorite sections where I showcase my growth and knowledge in the course is through my monologue. I really put in a lot of effort to create a persona and have a character arc and just TELL A STORY. It took a few drafts to really get down the formatting of a playwright and how to tell a story. After extensive research and watching examples in class of great monologues like Jeremy Allen White’s “The Bear” scene and America Ferrera’s “Barbie” emotional scene, there was a lot of work to feed off of. Of course, no one’s work is perfect, so even after a few drafts of monologues and practice, I still could have made my story longer and added more context. It can be difficult to do that when the parameters for assignments are not explicit with that, but that is a challenge I faced and can work on in the future. It made me realize, my strengths are my creativity and the passion to write, but where my weaknesses tend to be careless mistakes and the inability to want to accept criticism. It was something I am working on. All in all, I enjoyed my time in the Creative Writing course and all the feedback and bodies of work produced in the course, by me. I will cherish my work for years to come and hope to reflect on them in the future, having produced more knowledge and wisdom as my years at CCNY, and life overall, go on.
Thank you.
Sincerly,
Past Me
