Sarah Allen IWA response

Alex Gilkerson

ENG 1510

September 12, 2012

Informal Writing Assignment

I normally do not get into my readings.  I will normally read it and will draw a blank about what I had just read.  Not with this article, this article really interested me.  I always feel like I am struggling whenever I am reading or writing.  I feel like I don’t understand what I am reading and don’t know how to put it into my own words.  This is a pretty big problem, according to the fact that I am in college.  This article shows many examples of different people who struggled at first and then became successful (hopefully the same will work for me).  Even the author, Sarah Allen, struggled with writing at first.  One quote I could really relate too came from Sarah Allen herself.  “More Hamlet-like, more like a battle with a ghost-the ghost being the “inspired writer””.  The author says this talking about herself at an early age of writing.  I feel like she means she could never get motivated to write.  I feel the same way when I have to write a paper.  Nothing I have to write about inspires or interest me.  Sarah explains that to motivate yourself you have to connect yourself to something that does in fact interest you.  Once you find a connection, the writing material will come to you.  Just like the case with Patricia Bizzel.  She says, “but for all the misunderstandings, all the fears and so-called failings that happen among writer and paper and reader, there’s always another white page”.  This quote can mean a lot of things to a lot of people.  To me, this means that everything you write won’t get an A, every argument you have someone will disagree and test your theories, but you can keep working and be yourself.  Just like in the movie Joe Dirt, where David Spade plays a “white trash” guy who gets picked on by everyone in every town, and he still ends up with a beautiful girl.  One of the famous quotes in that movie is, “keep on, keeping on”.  This means to keep doing what you’re doing even if you’re getting picked on, even if you don’t get an A on every paper, just live your life or keep writing.