“Error: On a website called Littsburgh they shared a quote from a reader that said: “A must-read for anyone who thinks ‘build a wall’ is the answer to anything” (Esquire). 

Fixed: On a Littsburgh webpage regarding literary arts, an interview with the author mentions the book as they share a quote from a reader that said: “[a]A must-read for anyone who thinks ‘build a wall’ is the answer to anything” (“Interview: Francisco Cantú”Esquire). 

Why: My in text quotation was wrongly formatted. By adding a more direct in text quotation of the article I used it is easier for the reader to find it in the works cited page.”

This activity allows us to identify our most common errors and be more aware of them for future writings. By practicing revision and collaborative writing, I will be able to identify my common errors faster and also detach from my own work. Sometimes writers find it hard to accept their writing work and seeing with another vision is important since those feedbacks are the ones which will truly improve our writing. 

College is an experience no one understands until they live it. At the beginning, I thought, “I have just a few classes, and I’ll have a lot of time.” Also, I said the common phrase we all tend to say at the start of a new year, “I’ll study a little bit every day, so that way I will always be prepared.” (Spoiler: I never studied if it wasn’t for a test.) The need for perfection combined with the combination of adapting to a new learning system, a new place to live, new people living with me, a new area, new friends, and new information overwhelmed me at some point. I had the need to do everything, but I was feeling like I was really doing nothing. I wanted to get involved, but I always felt that it wasn’t enough. A constant fight between my social life and my academic life, combined with my familiar life, work, and the “me time” I needed, seemed nearly impossible to achieve, and it is something I talked about in my Papelito 9. Because I wanted to do everything, I was doing it without thought, to the point where I was not even enjoying the process. My lifestyle and routine got ruined; I barely ate because of lack of time; sleeping for me was nonexistent; and my school work? Especially my writing, which I tend to struggle with, was affected, as I mention in my Papelito 3. 

I’ve always liked to write, but I tend to write my thoughts and ideas, not necessarily papers people are going to read. I am of the idea that when you have a lot on your mind, writing it down helps you get it out and free your mind from those worries and stress, but this time, writing it down wasn’t going to help. 

After this, I realized how much all aspects of my life were affected, and I understood that I needed to set priorities. What was my main priority? School, and yes, there should always be balance, but since doing well in school gives me mental peace, I was taking care of my future and my mental health all together. The laptop I had was not working well, so my iPad was my salvation. As I mentioned in Papelito 5, my iPad helped me stay organized and keep all my work in a single workspace. Finding alternate solutions, along with having self comprehension about how it is okay to not do everything and be at everything, and also understanding  that what I’m doing is enough (as long as I am enjoying it), switched my mindset. After I understood that, I’ve been able to enjoy all aspects of my life in a great way, and my writing assignments have improved in quality. Now I don’t see writing as an exhausting and time consuming thing to do, but as a way of expressing my thoughts. By having this mindset, my writing experience in the future will be more organic and easy because I now understand that if you give proper time to assignments and simply the things you do in your life and you find joy in doing them even though they are school work or things you didn't want to do, you suffer less and do them with a better quality, which will take me to the places I want to get to in the future. Remember: “El flojo trabaja doble.”