Writing as a Naturalist by Richard Miller

Before Writing as a Naturalist, the two week immersive course I discuss in more detail on my about page, I had no idea what I was going to do with my life. I never used a video camera before. I knew nothing about web design.

I always liked to write. It was not until taking this class did I learn how to write well. Richard taught me how to rearrange thoughts. He taught me about the draft process. He taught me how to develop an idea into something tangible.

Rearranging thoughts in a video seems natural to me. I never thought about it with my writing. It always seemed like it was too much work to switch around paragraphs in an essay.

While editing a video I can click and drag one thought and move it from the end to the beginning in less than five seconds. This is much different than composing with text. As I noticed the power of rearranging thoughts to create new meaning in my story it completely blew me away.

Dr. Richard E. Miller of the Rutgers Writing Program invented this course. The course taught me to explore complex social issues with technology, collaborative internet research, and hands on community activities.

I learned how to be creative and analytical in the modern age with modern media.

This was the beginning of the rest of my life.