Sh*tty Speaker, Great Writer

Writing is communication.

If there’s one thing people should know about me, it’s that I dislike speaking. Not because I’m an introvert or that I have a fear of it, but rather I can’t speak my thoughts properly. As ideas flood my brain, I often find words sitting like bricks and weighing me down. While in classes, my eyes often light up at each question asked by my professors. “I know this!”. But I never say anything. Rather, I wish I had time to think, process, and format my thoughts.

Needless to say, class participation is my worst enemy. I dread the classes that mandate verbal communication as part of the overall grade. I feel that I am never able to properly dictate what I think. Yet, out of my dislike for speaking and class participation my love for writing was made. Writing is not solely a way for my creative side to flourish but it is my preferred way of communication with everyone else. The ideas that I write are a part of me and where my voice can be heard. And it’s in those moments where I see myself coming alive. 

It's Okay to Use 'I'.

Despite my love for academic writing, I find creative writing to be liberating as it tends to forgo grammar and stylistic conventions. Yes, having certain grammar rules is good as it ensures that any piece of writing is legible. However, as a writer there is one particular writing convention that I have despised. It is the side-eye look towards using personal pronouns, such as “I” in writing. Growing up as a mainly academic writer, I would get a slap on the wrist if I ever used personal pronouns. I didn’t know it at the time, but not using “I” in certain essays or projects restricted my growth as a writer severely. I was disconnected from my audience and I could not properly express my own thoughts as a person. It wasn’t until I was a freshman in college when I found out who I was as a writer.

Get Out of Your Comfort Zone.

When I came to Wake Forest University in 2021, I enrolled in a course called WRI111: Mindful Nation, Contemplative Inquiry and Society. For the first writing assignment, we had to describe a physical object or place that we knew of and utilize all of our five senses to do so. I can tell you up front that it is very difficult to complete an assignment like that without using “I”. After multiple attempts of not using personal pronouns, I caved and began using them. Did I cringe every time I said “I” in the essay? Absolutely. But that soon wore off because the professor encouraged first-person narratives for the rest of the semester.

Nevertheless, it was good that I was uncomfortable with writing. In those moments, I was able to explore a part of my writing that I had never gotten to do so before. From that moment, I found my personal voice in writing and discovered a creative side of myself. Sometimes, it’s good to get out of one’s writing comfort zone and experience new stylistic changes. I believe it’s in those situations where the best writing happens.