It all started out with The Odyssey. Fitz introduced the class to us with some writing assignments to start off with, but The Odyssey was where we really started to dive deep, but funnily enough, it wasn’t the book that changed me as a writer. It was the writing we did along side it. At first, I thought the writing requirements were monstrous, massive foes I had to tackle every night, but slowly I became used to them. 

I started to find my groove in metacognitions. It was a writing style I’d never known before. It was a place where I didn’t have to worry about structure, I could just use the keyboard to put my thoughts on a page. I would read and write comfortably each night. I felt what it was like to express myself in a way that I hadn’t even been aware of.

Those are the moments I think of when I think of English this year. Searching for themes and deeper meaning in Lord of the Flies was fun and exciting, but it was nothing like the true freedom of an essay or metacognition. I just wrote, and enjoyed it. Fitz has always encouraged us to write, as much as we can, and I think that’s the most important lesson I’ve gotten out of this class. I enjoy the handful of unheard of sayings like “step into the lifeboat”, but the thing that’ll stick with me is the simple advice: just write.

Writing isn’t about essays anymore, it’s about getting who I am onto a page. Writing isn’t a task, even though sometimes it can feel like it, because while you’re writing it’s not work, it’s just you. The paper, or in my case iPad, is just a reflection of yourself. It’s hard to describe how my appreciation for writing has grown, but I think that’s exactly what it is, an appreciation. 

This year has completely transformed the way I see writing, reading, and words in general. I barely even know what happened. It’s impossible to plot how I changed in a year, but I know I have. If you told me in September that I’d write a 10,000+ word story this year, I would’ve been scared to my core, but looking back, it was kind of fun. I never worked that hard on a piece of writing in my life, and even though that story could’ve been better, I’m proud of it. For a long time I wasn’t proud of anything I wrote, but when I look back on this year, I can say I did well.

And now that this year is over, I feel grateful. Grateful that I’ve had people that helped me grow and gain confidence as a writer. The best part is my journey doesn’t end here. This year taught me that to be a good writer, I must write, and with this simple lesson, I now have the power to grow on my own.