Ron's Discovery Draft (very tentative draft)

Instead of mulling over what I’m going to write about, I’m going to do try something different, something I don’t think I’ve done for an academic paper: the first-thought-best-thought philosophy. I don’t mean to pretentiously honest by this, bring a smile to Dr. Cauthen by trying something he’s stated more than once as being good, or even write something he would want to hear, although, admittedly, I know subconsciously I’ll be doing this more than what I would like to, which is something I believe all students do to some extent regardless of how original or unique they want to sound in order to get a grade they want.
So I’m supposed to write about an event that has affected me in such a way that my outlook on writing was changed? Okay, that’s an easy thing to recall - It’s been this class and English 571. Why? Mostly because the topics discussed in these classes are new to me, yet they’re intriguing. I didn’t major in English in college, so all the discussions in class about the theories on voice, writing process, clustering have all seemed like... well... foreign in a way. I majored in Classical Studies in college. This degree entailed a lot of English to Latin translation, analyzing the effects the Roman Empire had on the world, and reading a lot of literature by the great classical authors of antiquity. Free writing (even in high school) was never a part of my education. Looking back, most, if not all, the writing I did in undergraduate school was void of my “voice,” and the stylistic manner was mundane - yet I got As and was told by professors I was a good writer. Now, taking this class, I have found that what my professors for my undergraduate degree were telling me was true, but a lie at the same time. True because I can write well when it comes to using grammar, participles, complex sentences, and other syntactic tools. But a lie because a “good” writer doesn’t write mundanely, banally, or without a tone. And this is exactly what I was doing for most of my writing assignments in college. Once I decided to pursue an MA, I didn’t think my identity as a writer was going to be challenged as much as it has been in English 575 and 571. But ironically, these classes have confirmed my belief that I am a capable writer and they have made me proud of the way I write. There are so many theories about how to write effectively, how to connect with an audience, how to implement one’s tone, etc. But I find that each of these topics are as moot as the age long question “What is the meaning of life?” There are countless theories and no universal agreement.