Recently, I posted about experimenting with genre, which was inspired by the poetry portfolio I completed for my creative writing class.Today, I got that portfolio back with a...
GRADE.
Yes, that is bold, italicized, and underlined. As a scholarship student who needs to keep an A- average to remain a scholarship student, as well as a recovering perfectionist, that is how I view grades. I will not say what that grade was, but that it was one grade point (counting grade points as C-, C, C+ etc.) lower than I expected. Yes, one whole grade point. If my grade had been the first comment I saw, well, I would not be calm enough to write a blog post right now (and on a writing blog, no less! I would have felt even more unqualified to write this post than I am, and trust me, I'm far from qualified.)
But my professor, bless her, left a comment on the top of the first page that caught my eye before the grade did. She said that my work is getting stronger and stronger.
And then I saw my grade, and was ok with it. Happy, even. To clarify, though I expected to do better on the project than I did, I did not expect to get an A, either. The best lesson I've learned since becoming active in the YA community is how many more lessons I still need to learn. And, though I'm not new to creative writing, I am new to poetry, so of course I wasn't going to master the style in a few weeks.
But I got better. And I think I'm getting better as a YA writer, too. That's not to say that every scene I write is an improvement on the last one I wrote (and that was not the case with my poetry, either), but that, generally speaking, I'm a better writer than I was a few months ago. And I think that's all I can ask for.
What about you? Do you see how much you've improved as writer? Can you recognize and remember that, even if you take a step backwards? Let me know in the comments!
5 comments:
What do I do? I thank God that no one is giving me grades on my manuscript drafts. Maybe agents should adopt a letter grade system? It might give some uniformity to the humiliation. "Well, at least I got a C+ on this query ... what grade did she give you?"
Seriously, I think writing in an educational environment is awesome, regardless of major. It gives an opportunity to practice writing for an audience (your professor), and to do exactly what you stated: Gauge your progress over time. (That gets to be an incredibly complex thing to do outside of academia.)
Congrats on your grade, and I'm sure you'll get the grade you're shooting for on the next assignment!
EJ
oh yes. reading stuff i wrote earlier and cringing reminds me very well that ive improved a lot. so anytime that i need some encouragement, all i have to do is open those dreaded files for reassurance that im WAY better than i used to be.
I think you can count yourself blessed you have such a mature attitude. I remember putting my heart and soul into an assignment I thought was kickass only to find out that my professors hadn't appreciated it as I thought they should - no amount of encouraging comments ever took the sting off that grade!
Keep looking at things in a positive light and you'll go a long way, Bri. I don't even dare to experiment in poetry. Each foray into the unknown is a positive step, in my opinion!
Good for you! I remember getting grades I wasn't expecting and how upset they made me. But that comment from your teacher was great! That would help immensely. Onward and upward!
E.J. - That's a good way to look at writing in an educational setting, I think you're absolutely right in how useful it is in those aspects. Thanks!
Aleeza - Definitely with you there! Always fun/horrifying to look through old docs :P
Luke - Thanks for that, though I'm hesitant to call myself mature. Oh yes, I've definitely recieved some grades that still irk me to think about. Thanks again!
Kathi - Thank you!
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