1.4 Writing Inventory

while digging in my closet to find an old video i made for my first college video course (psa of men needing "escorts" in the all girls dorm), i found something else instead. a bulky, vanilla folder of all my old high school and junior high writing compositons. i also found my old journalism assignments, my pre-production binder and my film term paper final - "Horatio Alger & John Hughes: The Masks of Teenage Popularity and Socal Issues" - Race, Class & Gender in American Film. God, I was really bad at writing. (Like, really bad).

What cracked me up the most, though - since I don't have time to flip through every ridiculous composition I re-discovered, (Including such classics as the horror short story "The Shreet" (complete with illustrations), "Irony," (basically a 20 page story about a girl killing herself in outerspace), "The Shopping Fairy and Her Bar Code," the history of the barbie doll and several cringe-worthy papers), was an assignment.

Anybody who knows me knows my handwriting BLOWS. But this sheet of paper was some paper, I'm guessing in 8th grade or somewhere along there. It's titled 1.4 Writing Inventory. These are the questions, and my scribbled pencil answers.

1. When you are given a writing assignment, how do you approach it?
(Circle One)
(My Choice) A. I look forward to it.
B. I don't know how to begin.
C. I'm sure I will fail.
D. With a feeling I can do ok.

2. What are your major strengths as a writer?
When writing, I have a creative imagination and can think of numerous ideas.

3. What weaknesses do you have in writing?
My handwriting isn't perfect and I have trouble finishing stories.

4. Describe one of the most interesting writing assignments you've ever been asked to do. Why did you find it interesting?
Last year when we did autobiographies, becuase I got to share and write about past experiences.

5. What is the worst writing assignment you can recall having?
Having to write an ending chapter to a book we read, we had to finish the story (no period)

What made it so terrible?
I have problems writing endings to stories and I liked the original ending that the author wrote.

6. Have you ever kept a journal? yes Do you keep a journal or diary now? yes If so, explain how you began and what it means to you.
I began a couple years ago and I write in my diary to express my deepest thoughts or emotions.

7. How do you define good writing?
I define good writing correctly (like capital letters, punctutation.) Also having creative ideas that make the story interesting, not like one boring topic (no period)


Obviously, my likes/dislikes/strengths and weaknesses have not progressed much since junior high. I like how I define good writing, especially when I used incorrect punctuation twice in the same sentence.