Weekly writings install priceless skills and creative confidence

Opinion by MiaButler

People say that 3 am is the scariest time, but for me, and I’m sure countless freshmen and sophomores can agree, too, 4:00 pm on Fridays is the most haunting, or at least dreaded of them all for one reason. Two words: Weekly Writing.

My freshman and sophomore year practically revolved around the Turnitin.com 4:00 p.m. deadline. As a chronic procrastinator, I wouldn’t start my weekly writing assignment until, most often, 3:00 p.m. Prior to having my license, I had the luxury of cramming in homework while my mom drove me home. That was the exact routine I obeyed for a year and a half… until I turned 16 and started to drive myself. Then, things really got serious. I had no other option than to work on my weekly writing before 3:00 p.m. 

As I unwillingly wrote my stories earlier in the day, or if I was really feeling wild, earlier in the week, I started to dread the mundane task. After having written a 500-700 word story weekly, I just felt like I was wasting my time. The word count, which started at 500 for my freshman year, used to be a battle to reach. However— and this is why I started to find weekly writing pointless— by the middle of sophomore year, when my word limit was 700, it all started to feel too easy. I began to feel that everything I was writing was worthless because I never had to put much thought or time into my stories. I would simply read the assigned topic and just get to typing. A few words here, a mediocre title there, and I was done. I was able to write a 700-word story in an estimated 15 minutes. In my head it was too fast, too easy and too senseless. 

Well, I am now a senior, two years clean of weekly writings, and, granted, I’m only 316 words into writing this, but it has only taken me about 10 minutes. Within these ten minutes, I have been free-styling this story. I never really go into any writing assignment with a plan—which might sound alarming— but trust me, it is a good thing. For most papers, teachers stress the importance of having a plan, knowing your ideas and being mindful of content quality and length. However, those strategies are for real papers. I considered weekly writing, since they had become so easy to whip up, to be busy-work papers. 

Since weekly writing was just busy work, I typed with no plan, as I had become so confident that I could think and write simultaneously. This was huge and a total game-changer. This has made me appreciate the mundane weekly writings.

  My lack of planning and my lack of time management absolutely thrive now, all thanks to weekly writings. I am able to think on my feet, or rather, my fingertips. My essays can go from blank to six pages in an hour now after having two years of repetitive writing training. 

At Marian, we often are comforted and congratulated on our academic abilities by teachers and staff who praise Marian above all schools. We hear things from them such as, “You are Marian girls, of course you can _,” or comments about how our education does not compare to education elsewhere. Sure, this sounds great and all, but in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but wonder if that was true, or if that was just stuff they wanted us to hear. “How could Marian’s education be so different from other schools, and what makes us better academically than other kids?” I always wondered. 

Well, unfortunately, it took my friends transferring for me to confirm that theory: it is true. 

Freshman and Sophomore year, four of my best friends went here, but they have since switched to Skutt and Roncalli, which they can attest has been a dramatic change in their educational expectation and quality. My friend told me that she had two weeks of in-class time to work on a two-page essay…. Now, do you see why I agree with the Marian theory? A two-page essay is light work for us, most times. Personally, because of weekly writing, I know that would take me 30 minutes maximum. 

Another one of my friends says that her classmates complain to teachers when they have the slightest bit of writing to do. But she doesn’t have to as she is reaping the benefits of weekly writing. 

My success, their success and your success can be credited to the English department at marian who created weekly writing to combat stress and build confidence. They agree that the writing prompts are intentionally made with the goal of reducing anxiety around writing and to invite creative thinking and talents into students’ minds. 

So, if it feels like weekly writing has no benefit now, believe me, you will see it later. Those extra 15 minutes you spend writing on a Friday will soon turn into ease, confidence and productivity. Weekly writings will train you for the “daunting” 8-page essays you have to write at Marian. But, it you are already writing them, think about how much easier they are to even just start because you wrote weekly for two years. Weekly writings boosted confidence, writing ability, grades, my—and I apologize for admitting— procrastination and free-style, and best of all, they made 4:00 not so scary anymore.