Metacognition: Short Story Writing Process

Thinking, writing, deleting, and rewriting, I spent an unbelievable amount of time over the weekend revising my short story. Whether I was developing a specific passage in my story to hold onto a moment with rich language, or I was searching for grammatical errors, I learned a lot about myself, my writing, and even my learning during the short story writing process. Surely, I didn't accomplish this process overnight, but I'm thankful that I had the opportunity to embark on such a journey in my writing.

The first day that I sat down to write my story, I remember sitting at the computer for two hours with nothing. With a blank, white Word document and a flashing bar lighting up my screen, I was constantly reminded that I had made no progress within the two hours. Now, I'm not saying that I wasn't thinking. In fact, that was just the opposite. I spent the full two hours thinking about what to write, that I couldn't spend any of my time actually writing. I was so caught up in trying to find the perfect idea, and conform to a perfect writing style, that I had no idea where to start. My mind constantly shifted between different ideas, and I was unable to settle on a specific topic.

Eventually, however, I realized that the best way to go about this challenge for myself was to look at the professional short stories we read in class and take advice from those authors. Specifically, I looked at Gina Berriault's The Stone Boy. I enjoyed her writing because of how well she held onto the moments of her text. I used her writing as an example for my story, and I realized how influential and helpful her writing was. Not only did The Stone Boy spark the idea for my topic, but I also used the story as a guide for how I wanted my story to progress. I learned after turning to The Stone Boy, that I learn the best by following examples. This way of thinking definitely improved my short story because I was able to have guidance without needing someone else's opinion. I could channel my inner creativity, but with a guide to help me stay focused.

While the beginning of my thinking during the short story process was very ineffective and wasted a large sum of my time, ultimately I realized that I couldn't think like how I usually do when I write. I've grown accustom to writing things such as blogs, research papers, or essays. Never before had I written a short story, until now. So, when I finally realized that I was going to need to go about my writing process differently, everything shifted and fell into place. While it still surprises me that I took so long to figure out that I needed guidance with how to write a story, I like that I've learned what best works for me in terms of this kind of writing. From now on, I hope to go directly to the process of examining other's writing and actively thinking, rather than how I began this short story writing process through inactively thinking.

An Inconvenient Truth: Gender Inequality

This past week, we started to read Jane Eyre in English class. The author, Charlotte Brontë, emphasizes the issue of gender inequality and the role of women in society during the nineteenth century. However, as I've learned through class discussions, these issues still present themselves today in the twenty-first century. I find this issue very irritating as a modern teenager, because I do not understand why our world has come so far with things such as technological advances, but gender inequality still remains a problem.

In the nineteenth century, Jane struggles for a sense of belonging within her life. She is suppressed not only because she is a woman, but also because she is an orphan. Brontë illustrates the issue of gender inequality within her Victorian style literature. Women during this time period were exploited for work, provided cheap labor, and inferior to men in almost all senses. They were considered lower class, a problem even more severe for Jane, because she was an orphan.

Nowadays, gender issues are less severe in certain areas, like the United States. However, inequality is still present within the twenty-first century. Women face issues such as unequal pay, double standards, and domestic abuse. In some countries, like Saudi Arabia, women are still forbidden to drive. While on the surface women may seem equal, I still believe there is an underlying inferiority that some people perceive women with. Even in class this week, Mr. Allen mentioned that teachers discriminate on books that they read in class, depending on whether or not the boys will "get into it." This demonstrates the archetypal characteristic of gender inequality. Ultimately, I believe the inconvenience of this truth is that it has become so rooted in our society that everyone believes it.

This issue really irritates me because I do not understand why our society has progressed so far with some issues, but we've made little progress with this issue of gender inequality. Especially as a female teenager, I have high aspirations to be successful when I grow up. But, when I hear about gender inequality, it upsets me to know that I might not be able to make an equal income with a male co-worker. I hope that one day, this will not be the truth. However, I believe the only way we can come to terms with this issue is through awareness and actions against issues such as unequal pay. While it may take time, I'm not sure if there is any other way to solve this inconvenient truth.