The Year of Productivity, Part II: Actions
On establishing a writing routine:
Tobias: Write every day. Everything else is secondary, even the health of family and the status of relationships. Period.
Paul: Reward yourself! I don’t know if
holding out the lure of cake really gets me to write more, but at least I get
cake!
Deanna: Write 2-3 stream-of-consciousness
pages daily to fight Writer’s Block, to alleviate Fear of the Blank Page, and
to stretch the Write-Brain muscles.
Jen: Write every day. No
excuses. Even if it's just a couple of sentence fragments scribbled on the back
of an envelope while you're making dinner or changing a diaper or folding
laundry. It all counts.
On approaching a topic:
Melanie: I use the funnel to narrow my ideas
from general/broad to specific/focused. Readers need background details (my
topic’s introduction) earlier in my paper. That introduction gives readers
context to understand the more specific issues I want to raise later in my
essay. I use the funnel for research, too. I begin with broad library
searches and then narrow them with specific keywords as I learn more about my
topic.
Rachel: Write without fear. While I received
this advice when I was tackling creative topics (inevitably there are taboos
that come up in certain writing environments), I think this is applicable to
scholarly writing as well. Sometimes writers are afraid to step out, to risk
vulnerability or depth. It is much simpler to skim the surface of a topic, but
truth and depth are what make up the nature of good writing.
On choosing words:
Brian: Why
are you writing like you know what those words mean? [My freshman comp instructor referencing
my poor attempt at an inflated and unnecessary vocabulary.]
Nathan: Quit
showing off! – Multiple professors. If there’s a single value that I took
away from being an English major, it is that writing needs to have a purpose
(to educate, to entertain, or other) that supersedes the demands of style. Back
in school, I used to think I was a pretty good writer, but all I was really
good at was sounding clever and smart, and my ideas suffered as a result. My
professors at school taught me to hone my style to a bare minimum and eliminate
all those superfluous rhetorical gestures I had wrongfully associated with
“writing skill.” Today I know the purpose of good writing is to be clear and
compelling to the reader, not flattering to the writer’s ego. When writing
creatively, I try to ask myself this question: Can I make this sentence or idea even simpler? The answer is often yes.
On revising:
Amy: Revise. It is not a novel idea,
but it is definitely the most helpful part of the writing process for me. I
used to become paralyzed with fear when confronted with a blank page, so my way
of getting over that is to vomit words onto the page. The revision process
is where I do my best work. I clean up and clarify my thoughts, organization,
and grammar.
Sarah: Always have a second set of eyes
read over important writing drafts. That second pair of eyes always finds
mistakes or clarity issues that seem to make perfect sense in my own mind.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments
(
Atom
)
No comments :
Post a Comment