The greatest block I’ve encountered while working on this project is working with the knowledge that I need to find a way to display my writing, both in a literal sense and in a more psychological manner. Firstly, writing on its own doesn’t really make for an interesting or engaging public project. To address this, I decided to switch to incorporating a variety of media within my writing in order to make the overall project more appealing. Secondly, the vast majority of my writing and creative work is produced for a class or simply for myself. In a classroom context, others are working on similar projects which reduces my nerves about presenting my work. In trying to work with the knowledge that this will exist in the public eye, I’ve found myself much more unsure of my artistic instincts and overthinking what it is I’m creating and the way it may be interpreted regardless of my intentions. Ultimately, however, I know I have to trust myself and my audience with this work, and the fact that it’s work that I’m passionate about makes it a little bit easier to push through those fears. 

My academic and creative approaches both typically begin with gathering together related materials or information. For academic work, typically essays, this means reading books and articles on my chosen topic, combing through a text to analyze what jumps out at me, and assembling a composite of background knowledge. For creative work, I’ll draw from whatever I’m reading, watching, or listening to, go back through old notebooks and Notes app notes that contain bits and pieces of language that I jotted down as ideas or phrases to expand on. I often find that I can’t begin working on a project in interest without compiling a variety of sources from which I can draw. For academic writing, I then usually make an outline or a concept map. As academic writing necessarily requires more organization, this is very helpful, although I’ll have to go back and revise points or rearrange them as my argument becomes clearer and more nuanced. I’ve found it difficult to really follow an outline for creative work, but I’ll sometimes have a couple ideas for scenes that will fit into a larger outline and will work to expand them from a line to a paragraph to pages.