When I first started writing, I did not like sharing my writing with anyone. It was personal and I didn’t want others to read it. Nobody really read my writing unless it was a paper for school, which meant my teacher (my mom) would read it to correct it.
Once I took English 101 at a community college, though, I no longer had a choice. My professor not only read every draft of every paper but had us do peer reviews for each others’ papers. The first few times, it was scary. I had to let two or three other teenagers read my very first, very rough draft and give me feedback on it. After class, we would hand in our marked-up drafts to the professor and she would read them and give even more feedback. We always had at least three drafts-a messy draft, a rough draft, and the final draft. The other students in the class would read the first two, and our professor would read all three.
Although it started out really scary, little by little it become less intimidating. By the end of the class, my favorite part was peer-reviewing. I not only loved getting to help other students develop their ideas, but I looked forward to hearing their thoughts on mine. I found it not only incredibly helpful and insightful but also encouraging to hear that others could actually understand and appreciate my work. And after I had refined my paper based on the recommendations and corrections of others, it became easier to let others (family and friends) read the finished work because I felt much more confident in it.
Because of that class, sharing my academic writing with others (especially a teacher or other students) is no longer intimidating. However, I still find it incredibly scary to share my fictional or creative writing. It feels even more personal to me, and I’m more afraid of what others will think about it. I know that this is probably just because I’m not used to it. From my English 101 class, I learned a valuable lesson: The best way to get comfortable sharing my writing is just to do it!
