Final Portfolio: My Growth As A Writer

Logan McCarrell

HON 121A

Professor Tascone

May 3rd, 2023

Creative Writing Final Portfolio

Taking a creative writing class has been an incredible learning experience that has allowed me to explore my creativity and grow as a writer. A big key is brainstorming. Brainstorming is a crucial part of the writing process. It helps me generate ideas and bring clarity to what I want to get through to my audience. Through the class, I learned how to effectively brainstorm and develop my ideas to create compelling pieces. Another key is feedback. Receiving feedback is an essential part of the writing process. Through the class, I learned how to give and receive feedback constructively, which has helped me improve my writing skills significantly. With

I got the idea to write this poem as I was sitting in class just staring out a window. The rain was falling hard as it was early in the morning. But I happened to see two people walking to class late. They happened to look at each other for a moment. What I wrote was my idea of what went through their heads when they saw each other. With the feedback of my peers and professor I was able to accurately describe the scene that I saw and envisioned. So, the first set of revisions I made to the poem was from the girl’s perspective as the line is “I’m frigid, I’m sopping, I’m dismayed.” Previously the line was “I’m cold, I’m wet, I’m upset.” Changing the three basic words of before into the stronger words of the after allowed for the reader to understand the girl and her emotional state at this exact moment. Doing this allowed for imagery to be better displayed in this piece and be a strong concrete significant detail. The next revision I made was from the boy’s perspective. I added,

The putting of the boy’s hoodie up is also mentioned towards the end of the girl’s perspective. The girl notices the boy’s hoodie up along with his symmetrical face. Doing this helps paint a better picture in the reader’s head of the boy from the girl’s perspective and helps imagery be shown from both perspectives. Imagery is then improved with the addition of these two lines as one can better understand the moment as one would know how a raindrop would feel when it hits your head. Finally, I added two closing lines for both perspectives. My peers suggested a happy ending and a strong closing to help enlighten the poem. I did this by adding “That is the boy of my dreams” and “Even in that look, she is still gorgeous.” The addition of these two lines helped bring warmth to a poem about the gloominess and despair of rain. The talking of rain throughout the poem makes the reader think that is all the poems will be about, but the last line in each perspective changes that. It brings hope, warmth, and curiosity. It drives the reader to want more and lets their creativity imagine what would happen between the two. So, imagery is much stronger with the revisions and helps the reader put themselves in the shoes of different