Journey On:

Kelsey's GAtewAy 
Portfolio

I’ve always been told that it’s easiest to write about something you know well. It’s the reason we write so many (so. darn. many.) personal narratives in elementary school - we know ourselves best, and it’s most inviting to write about our own experiences. Still, in the past few years I’ve been afforded few opportunities to focus on myself or my personal interests within the confines of academic writing.  

​

So, I was a little bit surprised when I learned that this semester, I was going to be writing about anything I wanted, in literally any form I could imagine. I was excited, I was curious, and I was… stuck. I’d gotten so used to literary analyses and thesis statements that when given complete freedom, I didn’t know what in the world to write about. Luckily, there was only one polished piece from previous year that I liked enough to even want to look at again: a reflection about driving to my family’s cottage in Northern Michigan that I wrote in my first-year writing course. 

​

With my "origin piece" chosen, it was time to get started. My high school friends and teachers could tell you that my favorite part of writing is revision. I love building elegant sentences from choppy ones, refinding my vocabulary with the most specific and effective words, and using paragraph structure to make my writing flow. I relish reaching the revision steps for my own writing and even enjoy helping others revise their work, but getting those first words on a blank sheet of paper is frustratingly intimidating. As much as I try to embrace the “shitty first drafts” mentality, I am a perfectionist at heart.

​

That brings me to my next problem: within the experiment structure of the Gateway, I was going to have to produce 2-3 first drafts without ever revising them. I needed to get creative quickly, and not just about my subject or theme, but about my genre and mode of presentation as well.

​

In my first experiment, I wanted to dive into something drastically different from the writing I was used to, so I decided to make a map based on the journey referenced in my origin piece. With only a two week timeline from brainstorm to draft, I was quickly forced to admit that I am not a graphic designer, and the cute and beautiful sketch map I had envisioned was not going to come to full fruition. Of course that was fine, because producing a first draft was the only goal of the experiment, but it was difficult for me to put the project down when I felt like I’d accomplished nothing. While planning a map was fun, I realized in this experiment that I really do like writing with actual words. Some people in the class shared stories of how much they enjoyed making their podcasts or photo essays or storyboards, but my first experiment made me realize that I truly love playing with sentences and paragraphs.

Between experiments, we read and discussed a few mentor texts in class. I was especially struck by Ross Gay’s The Book of Delights, and immediately knew I wanted to imitate his style of short but witty and powerful essays in my second experiment. Before reading his book, the flash essay was a genre that didn’t feel like real writing to me - how could you accomplish anything in 200-1000 words, much less 50? Yet, as I dived into writing a collection of 200-300 word flash essays about different aspects of driving up north, I realized that this genre is 1) actually quite difficult to write well and 2) perfect for someone like me who has a fear of rough drafts. It’s intimidating to stare down a 10-page essay, but 300 words? You can write that in 10 minutes! And still have lots of time for revision! For me, the word limit made flash essays more inviting to write than their full-sized counterparts. 

​

By the end of the semester, I knew I liked flash essays and wanted to stay within the sphere of creative nonfiction for my fully realized project. I also felt like I had exhausted the topic of my origin piece needed to write about something new. I had loved the nostalgia of writing about my drives up north, but I was hesitant to commit to writing about other favorite memories because I was afraid my audience would find them boring. However, after many conversations with peers, several frustrating attempts to draft, and two influential writing conferences, I was finally convinced of something that I'd been told at the very beginning of the semester: the more specific my writing was to my own experiences, the more relatable it would be to my audience.

I chose to expand the topic of one important journey in my life to any and all journeys I’ve been on so far - hence the name of this portfolio, Journey On. It’s not meant to be a summary of every journey I've ever experienced, but rather a snapshot of some of the important times and places I’ve traveled and grown. 
 

If you’ve made it all this way, thanks for reading. Don’t ever be afraid to write about what makes you smile, because believe it or not, those are the stories that everyone needs to hear.