There are so many rules to writing that it becomes incredibly exhausting to even think of creating a new piece or working on an essay for a college class. I’m supposed to write five paragraphs, composed of five to seven sentences each, all of which contain a very specific example that ties back into the thesis statement that was mandated at the end of the first paragraph. I’m supposed to make sure that I never use ‘I’ in my papers and that my wording is strictly academic and professional- don’t let one ounce of me or my personality seep into my work because that’s a huge ‘no-no’. This isn’t what writing is supposed to be about though- all of these harsh, boring, strictly enforced rules take the fun away from writing and it makes it nearly difficult to focus and produce a good piece of writing. I hate the format that I’m constantly told to follow- the rules that I get ridiculed for breaking absolutely crush me and make it so that I never write and, anytime I do have to write, I always push it off until the very last minute.
E. Shelley Reid, in “Ten Ways To Think About Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Students”, discusses ten metaphors that are used in terms of writing. She discusses how unnecessary it is to have so many rules in writing and how there should be more freedom and free will when curating a piece. She believes that people should be allowed to write about what they’re interested in and have a great knowledge about- tweaking it along the way in order to adapt to different audiences and accurately portray the purpose of the text. Reid’s general motivation throughout her writing is to inform people that there is more than one way of writing and that following the rules that were put into place is not necessary- experiment with writing and put your mind into it so that the reader can truly delve into the piece. I really enjoyed Reid’s piece and I think it was extremely informative and comforting in a sense because it allowed me to realize that I don’t need to follow the harsh, restrictive rules of writing- I can be more free and really make a piece my own, I just have to apply myself properly.
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