Portfolio Introduction

To be honest, I’ve never really considered myself a writer. My true love lies in speaking and I will likely always prefer the spoken word to the written. For me, the joy in words lies not in their beauty on the page but in the melodies they create as they are spoken into existence. I will oftentimes begrudge the difficulty of writing, frustratedly pronouncing that if only I could give a speech instead of write a paper it would be so much easier. In many ways, this bleeds into my writing style. I tend to write casually and conversationally, as though I were speaking. My writing has a prominent voice and my focus is typically more on word flow than content. In short, I like to write like I speak.

So when I first read the assignment to blog about coming of age stories, I was delighted. It was like the light had finally broken through after semesters of writing lab reports and technical papers; here was my chance to actually write stories. Sadly, I quickly realized that to write a story I first needed something to write about. My memories tend to be hidden away even from myself, it seems, and to dredge up an interesting story topic from my past was more difficult than I had imagined. Soon, I was disillusioned by the horrors of having to write about myself. Being asked to pour myself into a piece of work was not just demanding but incredibly difficult.

It took me weeks to muster the courage and stamina to write a single coming of age story, but I wasn’t dormant in the interim. I let myself focus first on the reading experience blogs, where I would try to respond to the literature as authentically and realistically as I could. With each post, I attempted to make sure that it was both personable and truthful. If I couldn’t figure out how to write my true thoughts about a book, I would never be able to write out a coming of age memory. And that’s where it began.

Eventually, I was able to move on to coming of age stories. I did the easy ones first. The familiar territory provided to be a good launching ground for more sensitive memories, culminating in one of my most dear memories and best experiences I’ve had. Still, when each blog was written, edited, fretted over, and finally posted, I allowed myself a huge sigh of relief. Writing isn’t easy for me.

Looking back over all I’ve written during the course of the semester, I’m surprised at the number of topics I managed to cover. In almost every story is a different side of me at a different age. Only when they’re put together can you truly begin to understand the complete scale of experiences that help create the man I am today. No piece manages to reflect my whole identity alone, but in conjunction with all the others, my identity becomes apparent.

In one of the wonders of writing and other forms of self-expression, my identity isn’t just revealed to those who read my stories. Through the writing process, I began to understand myself better and more truly grasp my identity. It’s easy to tell a story or to share a memory, but to unearth the complete spectrum of colors, sounds, sights, and smells requires an author to go back and relive where you can sometimes notice things you’ve never seen before. The forced three dimensional perspective on my coming of age stories somehow managed to create a three dimensional perspective on myself too. Writing coming of age stories practically became a coming of age moment in and of itself.

Now that it’s all said and done and the semester has reached its final days, I’m proud to say that I have grown in my writing abilities. The comfort I have with writing about myself has increased dramatically and I’m happier than ever with my abilities. I can only hope that my blog posts have been enjoyed and have been accurate depictions of who I am.