Final Exam Journal Response

I took this class so that it could help me improve my writing skills, and I really feel like it has. I have always liked writing, and it has always been a hobby of mine, so it was nice to have a class time to focus on just that. I’ve always thought that one of my biggest weaknesses as an author has been describing details, settings, features, feelings, and other things…altogether, I’ve just always thought my biggest weakness was detail. However, I feel like my descriptions have greatly improved as I’ve worked through this class, particularly with my short story, Balloon. I knew that I wanted Balloon to be all about vibe, mood, and feeling, and after reading what I have done of it, I feel like I’ve done a good job of conveying the darkness in a hot sunny, southern, Georgia town. I come to like writing more and more the more that I do it. As a kid, I used writing to express cool ideas of action-packed stories, but as an adult, I use writing to express my inner self and my feelings. Stories I have written such as New, Balloon, and several of my blogs have been methods of complete catharsis for me. New is among one of my favorite works, and I’m sure that Balloon will be when I finish it. I really love and respect the stories that I pour my heart into because they are my thoughts and personal feelings taken out of my head and printed on paper, and it feels good to get them out. I expect to continue writing well into my future. The main things I will be writing are my own screenplays and ideas for my movies that I want to direct, as I want to write the majority, if not all, of my films. Aside from writing movie scripts, I wouldn’t mind writing a book or two in the future, and I would really like to publish short stories that I write. I would love to publish the ones I’ve written now, but they only deserve to be in things like The New Yorker and not “The Athens Mag for Kiddie Stories,” so I’ll wait until I can achieve something like that. For now, I need to finish Balloon, and next I will begin work on The Sleeping Lifeguard and the Drowning Girl.