Reading and Writing

I have a history with reading that runs hot and cold. I love books once I start them, but I hate having to dive into a new story. It causes me great stress and anxiety to know that in starting a new book, I must acclimate myself to an entire cast of characters. Because I have this paralyzing anxiety, I seem to have developed a cycle. When assigned a book to read, I sit and stress about starting the book, but when I finally do begin to read, I immediately fall in love. I, then, read the book from cover to cover in a matter of days. Surprisingly, this is not the case for pleasure reading. I am always in the middle of reading a book that interests me and that has not been assigned to me. The pleasure books that I read, although not in the least bit educational in subject, throw me into the world that they illustrate. I tend to read books that are about powerful women in prestigious jobs. These books usually talk about relationships, work, and basically the psychology of life. Although these books are often considered “trash novels”, I find them to be a great and reliable escape. I try not to limit myself to just these particular types of novels. For example, I recently read The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, and found that it proved to act as an escape as well.
I have not always seen books as an escape. When I was younger, I took pride in my ability to NOT read whatever books were assigned to me, but still be able to write papers and take tests on them (and do pretty darn well). I truly did find that this only hurts me. Literature is fabulous and it is a part of everyday conversations. If I were to continue to proceed with that apathetic attitude towards reading I would only be limiting my own knowledge.
Writing is an entirely different situation. I absolutely adore writing. I love how powerful words can be and I often notice and envy people that use words beautifully. There are so many different elements that you can touch upon in writing and I am eager and willing to investigate all of these fields. I think that my affair with writing began during freshman year. When I was assigned creative writing assignments, I could not stop words and ideas from immediately filling my head. Creative writing and I clicked immediately. I found that I could insert my opinions and my personality into my creative writing assignments and there was no more that I could ask for from a school assignment. When an idea or string of words pops into my head, I often write them down. I later elaborate on those words. I do not write as much as I would like, but I try to do it as much as possible. I do have weaknesses in writing. I do not have a passion for writing research papers. I also find that I do not have great strength in analyzing works of literature and nor do I have the ability to articulate my conclusions in words. I do know that I value and enjoy writing enough to further my skills to realize a more complete writing style. (556)