At this stage, some of my disagreements were slowly resolved with early college writing classes. Instead of feeling incredibly frustrated and constricted, I began to associate writing with a greater feeling of freedom and power. The feeling of freedom originated from the variety of essay assignments and prompts I was given. Unlike high school, I was no longer a steadfast victim to the five-paragraph format. And in many cases, professors had allowed me to choose and structure my own topic or essay prompt. Therefore, I had the chance to write about content that actually held my interest.

 

But, the feeling of power came from the great variety of writing that suddenly filled my reading assignments. I was reading everything from creative non-fiction to published research papers. With these various examples in hand, I began to understand how writing could be presented in a variety of forms. And I began to see how through connection to audiences, writing could really be used to accomplish something. It could inspire, educate and incite action. This idea made writing seem incredibly powerful.  

 

Unlike the previous stage, I began to see writing as a less constricting medium but something that could be very effective and functional. In other words, an admiration began to grow and I began to start considering writing as a worthwhile activity to pursue. In some ways, I could finally see the value behind being a writer like "Jo".