Caro-as-a-Writer

I'm Carolyn, and I'm the instructor of an incredibly intelligent, fantastically enthusiastic section of English 101: Introduction to Academic Writing (yes, I can tell these things after just one class!). I'm originally from New York City -- Manhattan, to be more precise -- and have lived in the DC/Maryland area for a year and a half. I'm a city girl at heart, but I've really enjoyed crawling out from under all those skyscrapers up north.

When most people think of "writing," they think* of important essays with deadlines, long nights toiling away at a desk, but the way I see it, writing's got a much more expansive definition. Have you ever written a "to do" list? Or a quick email to your friends, say, letting them know to meet you outside your dorm before dinner? If so, guess what?

You are a WRITER!

Anytime you set down your thoughts into words, you are composing, and as someone who happens to love to write (blog entries, essays, lists, notes, texts, emails, you name it) my hope is to help my students come to recognize themselves as authors (that means you out there, reading this!). It was when I learned to see myself as an author that I began to enjoy the process, and this is a big part of what motivates me as an instructor today.

One of my most recent writing challenges was putting together the syllabus for this class, because I wanted to include so much, yet I needed to keep in mind that there are other classes y'all need to read for. I also wanted to make sure to provide the tools you need to grow as writers. I just wanted it to be perfect, but as I know so well, there really is no such thing. Many notes, drafts, versions and revisions later, here we are, and I welcome comments and feedback on what's working and what's not.

(...actually, come to think of it, writing this post was also a little tricky, because I didn't want to ramble on for too long, but I had stuff to say... so I just let out whatever I wanted to. I encourage you to do the same!) 

I look forward to growing as a writer with all of you, and I especially look forward to reading all of your posts this Sunday :)


* Yeah, that's right. I've got a little "They Say/I Say" action going there.