While writing my Hiraeth, I worked alone. I felt as though this was a good approach because I hate working in groups when it comes to assignments like this. When writing a paper, I want my opinion only because I am able to free hand whatever I want and I can also add in or take things out without a debate. The most difficult thing about my writing process was finding out what I was going to write about and how I was going to write it. Overcoming this was not hard at all. Once I sat down and wrote a list which was my grandmother, my childhood home that never was , and high school just to name a few it became clear to me that writing about my grandmother would be most effective. I wrote about this the day of the class as a whole found out about it. This was an awesome approach because myself and a few other people in our second class were very much ahead. I wrote my first draft in class and as soon as I got home I revised it and typed it up in my room. My room is the most quiet place in the house being as though my living room is occupied by a nine month old half the time. Why I chose to write about grandmother is very important to me. Once I understood the term 'hiraeth' it stood out to me out of all of the other things I would potentially write about. I've always thought about never being able to return to living my life without my Gran in it and not being able to do all of the things we used to do together. But now, I had an explanation as to what this meant. I plan to revise this project in the best way possible. Even if that means rewriting the whole thing. I am very excited to see how this turns out at the end of the semester. I plan for this to be one of my best papers by far and if I want that to happen I have a lot of revision to do. I plan on adding a lot more detail entailing the five senses. I feel that this will bring it to life!
The song I chose that illustrates hiraeth is called Autobiography by Nicki Minaj. I think this song demonstrates both sides of hiraeth. In the first verse she talks about her parents and the things her father used to do to her family and how she never wants to go back to that. The second verse she speaks about a previous boyfriend, along with how he used to treat her bad but all she wanted was to be happy and be with him. The last verse is an example of what never was. Nicki had an abortion at an early age and she is very regretful towards herself. She says "Wish I could touch your little face, or just hold your little hand.If it's part of God's plan, maybe we can meet again" which indicates she would like to have done these things but didn't get a chance to.
My initial understanding of Hiraeth was pursuing a place that you will never be able to return to. A yearning of something that never existed. When I first heard about our assignment I was excited because I knew exactly what I was going to write about and I completely understood the term after we had discussed it. I never heard of this word Hiraeth until the other day. The definition of the word is very sentimental to me because I've felt this way for a long time, I just couldn't describe the feeling. This assignment is giving me the opportunity to do so.
Recently I have read How You Can Create Fiction When Reality Comes To Call written by Carol Chute and, 6 Ways to Be a Hemingway- Level Production Badass writen by Drake Baer. These articles have lead me to think about my writing process. When reading Carol Chute's article I found that I could really relate to her as far as all of her distractions she had faced.Being a college student is already hard enough and it also comes with many different disturbances. One of the biggest distractions as a college student is working and being a mother, my time is constantly taken up by my job which I work full time and also taking care of my son which is also full time job in itself . As I am writing this now my son is running around in his walker screaming and making every noise he cold think to make. The T.V volume is on 20 because god forbid he cant hear his cartoons. I'm talking to my sons father about... I really don't know what were talking about because i'm typing this at the same time. His words are going in one ear and out the other. In saying this, these are everyday distractions I deal with. Carol Chute dealt with a lot of inversions and just couldn't seem to get in a "writing" state of mind. Just when she thought the coast was clear BOOM the dog is having a seizure, someone is at the door, or she had to tend to her husband. Before reading these stories I haven't really thought the distractions I face everyday because those things are normal for me. Until I sat down this morning to write this blog I didn't think anything of it. I too can relate to Baer's article in the sense that I have to get up early in the morning to write so all is quiet, I too have to "protect" my time if you will. Before I wrote this I've read my classmates writing processes and some of them were very similar to mine. I observed their steps because like I said I never thought about my process because I usually have to deal with all of the distractions around me. I have finally come up with my writing process and I feel like if I continue to follow the steps I've listed it will make me in the end a better writer over all because I will have some type of structure to go off of. Listed below is my personal writing process.
First: I make sure I feed my son or have him distracted so I can at least have 20 minutes of quiet. I'll be lucky if I can get him down for a nap... Second: I grab a snack for myself, preferably two uncrustables and a glass of ginger ale or a cup of tea. Third: This step I cannot list... LOL Fourth: I tune into pandora, Keyshia Cole. I like to listen to R&B while I write. Some of the songs I like to listen to are Lloyd ft. Lil Wayne-You, Ray J-One Wish, Tyrese-How You Gonna Act Like That, Joe-I Wanna Know, Jon B-They Don't Know, and Donell Jones-Where I Wanna Be just to name a few... Fifth- I have to be in a comfy location, specifically a rocking chair. Its something about rocking back and forth that soothes me. Sixth- I just go to town and write whatever is on my mind. No scrap paper, no ideas no nothing. Just my thoughts at the moment
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Alexis MotonOn my blog I will post my assignments as well as any daily thoughts I have. As well as my given assignments such as my 3 major blogs, My Hiraeth, Four Academic Mindsets Assignments, and finally my Film-Based Project. I hope you enjoy! Archives
November 2016
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