My writing historyYolanda Zárate León

In elementary school, I really liked to write stories. I remember that I had to write as a homework, and I was keen on inventing imaginative tales, with fantasy characters.

I invented animals which were half like a bird, with wings and claws, and half like a lion with fangs and paws. I remember having to draw and color those funny inventions.

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I used to cut them with scissors then I put a toothpick at the back side and stick them on the table. I managed to forget my childish fears with those imaginative stories.

In high school Greek Mythology was the discovery. I loved the wonderful world of gods and goddesses with human fears and weaknesses. I had a book where I painted my favorite ones, Zeus, Athena and Aphrodite.

At the university I had excellent literature teachers, I was fond on Latin-American Boom, Borges, Sabato, Gabo, and Cortazar.

In that period of my life I read about the surrealism movement, I became so interested in the topic that I did my thesis about Alejandra Pizarnik an Argentinian poet.

I would write short poems but I was never confident enough to publish them

This semester, the experience of writing was completely different. Academic writing is not a matter of expressing freely what you think or feel.

You have to organize ideas, link and rank them appropriately, select relevant information, etc. This is a complex process.

This is the first time I have this valuable feedback, I have learnt a lot but I have to admit that it has been more difficult than I thought at the beginning.

I found very helpful to spend more time on my work, in order to make sure it was exactly what I wanted to say.

It was interesting having another person's perspective on my paper.I want to be more able to fully express my thoughts in concise and

smart ways.Writing academic texts is an important skill I have to improve.

I used to think that I was a good writer…..I truly developed a great writing process in this class,I definitely will be exercising what I’ve learned in the future.