Rebecca's Questionnaire :)

Your Name Rebecca Raines

What you like to be called   Rebecca, Becky, Becca - I really have no preference because all three get used all the time, so whichever name you like best works for me!

Your email:____rraines@mills.edu_______________ Your birthday____12/23/1991______________

Your genre(s)____Fiction, I suppose? A little bit of poetry over the years as well

Your thesis idea: Right now, I'm torn between two different ideas. The plan I've had since I began taking fiction classes here at Mills was to expand upon and combine the three related short stories I've been working on for each of my fiction workshops. BUT NOW after a visit with my older sister, I've started to rethink my original idea and I am considering writing a personal narrative (perhaps future novella?) about my (and a bit of her) struggle to get more in touch with our Japanese-American identity and family history. It's hard to concisely sum up the idea, but I can explain more when we all meet in class.

Why you are a writer: Writing has always been a passion of mine. For a long time it was my go-to method of coping with my most personal struggles and it always seemed to help get me out of my own head. More recently, though, it has become a relaxing past time as opposed to expressing my frustrations with life. As much as I love to read and get lost in the world of my books, I would love to provide that same feeling for someone in the future by writing something amazing.

First thing you ever wrote: Besides my diaries and journals throughout my childhood and teen years, the first thing I ever seriously wrote was a short fable for a contest in 6th grade. The goal was to create a short story with a moral to it and I based it off of my own experiences with a certain group of (ex)friends. If I remember correctly, the story made it to one of the final rounds, but I don't think I won the contest..

What your writing practices are? How often? How long? Where? With? Etc.
I write much more sporadically now than I used to. I would take the time to write in my journal every night or at least twice a week when I was middle school and high school, but since I've started college that has definitely slowed down. These days I mostly tend to wait for inspiration to strike before trying to just sit down and write; usually that tends to be a song or verse after a bad break-up. I usually like to be alone when I write because I feel like I often get so into it that I'll forget the other person or people are there with me. Depending on what I'm writing, I'll get a bit emotional sometimes too and I prefer to be alone when that happens.

Anything else you want to tell us?
Mostly just that I'm really excited to embark on this thesis writing journey with everyone this semester and I really hope to get (and give) some great constructive feedback - the good and the bad - to help improve my writing (and yours of course!) See you all Friday!