Gavin Sheets
1/22/15
Digital
Literacy
When considering my relationship
with writing, one can clearly be defined as a love hate relationship. Writing has been a part of my life for as
long as I can remember and without it, there would be an empty gap in my
life. What is so tremendous about
writing is how free you feel when you begin to write on a blank document. It gives you a powerful and freeing feeling
that allows you to put down something that actually matters to you. The worst part of writing to me is when you
cannot put down your true feelings; instead, you are forced to put down
research and statistical findings. Writing
to me should be an opportunity to free your mind onto a piece of paper and
write down what matters to you. My whole
life I have written and loved to write, however that does not mean that I am
necessarily "good" at it. This
is where the hate part comes in. I have
always loved to write down my thoughts, but I have always hated to receive
grades for what I write. Writing is one
of the most challenging things that one can do; even the best writers find
flaws in their own pieces of work and take hours upon hours to edit what they
have completed. Writing should not be
about how it is said, but instead it should be about what is being said.
As a boy I always loved writing
and casting myself into a different world with a pad and paper. I can still remember a story I spent a whole
year writing called, "Gorillas vs. Humans World Series". If I found the notebook now and read it, I am
sure I would not only laugh at myself, but also have a hard time reading
through the grammatical and spelling errors.
As a young kid though, none of that mattered to me, instead it was about
getting lost in another world and writing down everything that came into your
mind as it happened. It was almost like
I was writing down what I visualized in my head as it happened. I was not worried about getting a good grade,
or writing the perfect paper; instead, I was solely focused on having fun doing
something I loved. I can still remember running up the stairs to my room, after
a baseball practice or day of school, in pure excitement of adding something
that I came up with while I was active.
I can still remember where I hid the notepad just in case somebody
wanted to steal my ideas. As you walk
into my bedroom, my bed is on the left with a tiny desk next to it; in that
desk is a small drawer that when you open it and lift up 4 pieces of paper you
can fine my notepad. Having that notepad
gave me a sense of responsibility and something that I could be proud to call
mine. It also was something that was out
of my usual circle, usually all it was to me was school and baseball, but this
gave me something more.
Now that writing has become
largely digital, although it is easier, does not nearly hold the same meaning
to me as something that I can hold and hide in my drawer as a possession. The convenience of digitally writing is there,
but sometimes convenience is not always the best. Writing has always been something I love to
do, yes, I do hate having my writing graded and judged, but the enjoyment that
I get from writing will not ever change.
