When Will My Paper Show What I Think Inside?

Writing is a hard process; I've learned that writing what I think is even harder.

                The opinion editorial is done. My long hours of frustration, of begging the keys to will up their story, of pleading with myself to become less professional has finally paid off. Ideas that were once made up in ranting now come across in a semi-cohesive manner. Although it’s only a final draft, with many more edits lurking beneath the surface, it is finished. This paper was a constant battle between mind and might, making me question my abilities quite often.

 As a fiction writer, my creativity felt stifled by my professionalism, my desire to sound as educated as possible. My brainstorming was caught by traps of continuous writing, of deciding arguments as my hands flew across the keys. Often, structuring the paper required large amounts of coaxing my fingers to yield up sentences to portray my ideas, without sounding like a vengeful feminist.

Having others read my work was like sending off a child to school; I would cringe and hover, hoping the end report will be something worthwhile. However, critiques brought about great changes and I am thankful for my group for listening to my rants and reading and revising my editorial.

Overall, the opinion editorial writing process proved to be as much of a challenge as a success. I feel more confident in my abilities to transform overly professional articles into relatable ones. I also enjoyed learning about different planning methods, even though I stuck with my reliable “writing by the seat of my pants” method.