Someday my prince will come

So one of the courses I am taking at GCU this semester is Advanced Composition. I was hoping to take Creative Writing, but it got canceled. So I am stuck with Creative Writing's ugly stepsister (no offense to all you ugly stepsisters out there). It's a fine class, it's just not what I was hoping for.

One of the things that excited me about Creative Writing was the professor. I have had her before for one of my Honors classes and we kinda clicked. I enjoy her teaching and she enjoys my writing. It's really a pretty sweet deal. What redeemed Advanced Comp for me was that she is teaching that class too. So I get to learn how to write advancedly this semester. And just in case your last name is Webster, no "advancedly" is not a word and I know this. It just seems to fit.

Also I was hoping to unleash my inner creative monster. I wanted to let it loose and allow it to roam the keyboard. I think it would have been fun to get creative and feel artistic for once in my life. But that hope is gone now.

Anyway, back to the ugly stepsister. We have been analyzing our own personal writing styles and habits and critiquing them. Self-criticizing is something I excel at. Oddly enough, so far I have given myself only compliments. Actually, that's not entirely true. It's weird to look at the way you go about writing. The processes involved in composition and revision are not normal things I think about.

As we talk about them in class, it's very interesting to hear how other people begin to write. Some muddle about for a while before procrastinating and then stalling and finally they throw something together. Others do a detailed outline and then don't follow it. One girl in the class does her outline after she has written her paper in order to check that she made a logical progression. It's quite fascinating to me to think about all this stuff.

One of the things that I found that I do poorly is the revision process. As I read over my rough draft, I have a hard time discarding things that don't work or flow well. They may be well written but they are like an asparagus on a birthday cake: fine by themselves but together they are odious (look it up, it's a good Scrabble word...). I get too attached to what I write and I don't like throwing things out. I think that's my goal for this semester, to look at my writing objectively and toss the junk out.

All of this is to say, even though I got stuck with the ugly stepsister, I think it will still be good for me. I am learning something. I just wish I could have gone to the ball with Cinderella. Maybe next time.