The Writing Process: Let's Process This Together, Shall We?
Sometimes the hardest part about writing is getting started. So let's
talk tips on how to get your brilliant thoughts from your brain to the
page.
Pre-Writing
There are a lot of different methods you can use for
pre-writing. We’ll be doing some pre-writing as a part of our course work, like
the Notice and Focus Exercise and the Process Posts. If you just can’t get
enough pre-writing, you can try working up an outline to organize your
thoughts. (I personally prefer to write first and organize through outlining
after I already have a draft, but you do you). Free writing, where you have a
general idea, set a time for 5-10 minutes, and write continuously until the
timer goes off, just letting the writing flow, can also be a good way to get your
creativity a-flowin’.
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| This is EXACTLY what free writing looks like |
Start Wherever Makes Sense
Confession: I always write my introduction last. I start by
with paragraph topics and then weave them together in a way that makes sense to
me, and THEN I go back and write my introduction and conclusion. If you want to
start writing in the middle, do it. Want to start at the beginning with your
title then your intro? Go for it! Don’t get hung up on working your way from
Point A to Point B when Point C might actually be a good place to dive in.
Obviously order matters when it comes to your finished draft, but the writing
process can be a bit more fluid.
Put your Subconscious to Work
Suspend Judgment
This is more for the revision
phase, but at some point, you are going to read what you wrote and hate EVERY.
SINGLE. WORD. When that happens and you want to start hitting the delete button
until you have a blank document, take a breath. Open a new document and save it
as “YOURTITLE—scraps.” Whatever you want to cut, should be pasted in there.
That way if you end up needing some content, you can dip into your scrap
document. You might not use it at all. You might use it for a future project.
Or you might just be glad that you have some already written content that you
can access if you’re up against a deadline and are experiencing deleters
remorse.
Don’t Sweat the Small Stuff
Grammar, sentence structure, and
spelling are all important, but those are issues that you can worry about when
your draft is in its final stages, ready to be polished and submitted.
Stressing about grammar and smaller order issues during the drafting stages
will just stunt your writing progress. Let your writing flow, and worry about
the clean up later.
For your comments: What part of the Writing Process is the hardest/least fun for you? Getting started? Revising? Peer Review? Citations? Or is there a part of the Writing Process that's your favorite? Either post a comment OR respond to at least two classmates.
Happy Writing, Y'all!
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI think for me the hardest part of the writing process is getting started. What I try to do to help myself my thoughts flowing is I will write down some ideas I have for my writing on paper and then attempt to create a rough outline. From my outline I can start writing. My favorite part of the writing process is editing my writing after I finally get started writing. I like editing because I know the hard part is over and I can make my writing so much better by just reading through it and making changes a couple of times.
ReplyDeleteWhen writing, the hardest part is always writing after multiple hours of work. Writer's block seems to kick in after two or three hours of constant writing and I struggle because I have been productive for such a long time and hitting a wall is a hard hitter to my morale. Most of the time I feel like I need to keep working (not because of the due date, I like to work ahead for most essays) because taking a break would interrupt my flow of thought. In writing this I do realize that a writer’s block is already an interruption to my ability to think as a writer, but I am naturally stubborn and most of the time refuse to see my own faults/flaws at the time of incident. The two best remedies I have found to my writer’s block problem is to first admit I need a break- which is surprisingly hard most of the time. Later I then pay closer attention to where my writer’s block occurred when revising my essay.
ReplyDeleteMorgan.1464
My least favorite part of the writing process is getting started. Especially when I have all of my ideas, but cannot put them into words or on the page in a way that makes sense to the reader and flows as a paper. My favorite part is revising because after I have done the heavy lifting I do not mind changing little things to make the paper better than it already was.
ReplyDeleteI totally understand the feeling of the difficulties of putting ideas into a constructed article or an essay. Usually when I'm stuck at such process, I will stop and hold on several hours or write on next day to let brain get ready for the creative process.
DeleteOrignial Post - Sara Kodish
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ReplyDeleteCadmon
ReplyDeleteMy least favorite part of writing is picking my topic. Starting the writing is not what worries me, is picking the right topic that I can do my best work on. When it comes to the writing process, I believe I am all too caught up with following the rules. Starting with my introduction, all the way to my conclusion, rather than allowing myself to freely start anywhere in my paper and then bring it all together in the end. Asides from the writing itself, I need to participate in a peer review, in the sense that someone looks over my work for grammar than simply re-reading my own work over and over again to catch any mistakes.
Ryan Hess
ReplyDeleteAt the beginning of the writing process I often find it difficult to select a topic and write my introductory paragraph. I often feel as if I can't determine which avenue I should take while writing and it is unclear where my writing will end up. After selecting a starting point and visualizing the path where my writing is going, I often am able to write more freely and my idea are connected in the correct order. Finally, after writing an introduction and supporting paragraphs it occasionally can be difficult to writing a closing thought. Revising is often difficult because the writer knows what should be written rather than what was written. Therefore, it is best for another person to revise your writing.
I think the hardest part for me in the writing process is making an outline. Generally when I start writing, I have a brief idea of what I want to write about but I always have trouble with the order to say it. Sometimes I only have one thing to say for the topic and have trouble trying to find more things to say. Its hard for me to organize my writing, and once the flow starts and I get in my zone, I am able to write about it for as long as I have things to write about. My favorite part of the process is going back through my entire writing and thinking of more things to add into my writings, and having someone else read it and giving me feedback. By the time I finish the writing, I forget how much time it actually took to do it rather I only remember how hard it was for me to pick a topic and finding things to put in my writing.
ReplyDelete-Vidhi Daga
I find it very hard to get started because I'm usually hung up on the idea that you must have your introduction done first or anything else that you do after it will be wrong. Another thing is when I'm getting into the zone of writing and I blank out or forget what I was going to say, and it would have been the perfect thing to put there but I just lost it. The only favorite part is the feeling of accomplishment when I completed the assignment, or I know that the work I did was superb.
ReplyDelete-Isaiah Green
My least favorite part is trying to get started. I always get hung up on the introduction because I have it stuck in my head that in order to create a natural flow in the paper, you must write the introduction before anything else. My favorite part is revising or editing since by that point I have been able to write out all my thoughts and points I am trying to make, and only need to correct small things.
ReplyDelete-Indira Guha
REEMA GUPTA
ReplyDeleteThe most difficult part for me in the writing process is getting started. Generally, I have a brief idea about what my argument would be but I face problem in putting my thoughts into a page in a way that it makes sense to the reader. Also, I face problem in the way I should use my sources in the paper. While finding and citing those sources is the easiest part I really get confused with how should I use them in my paper. My favorite part is editing because that is the time when I have completed all the major work and changing a few things on the bases of the feedback from my peers or from the professor would only make my paper better.
I think the most difficult part in the writing process is writing outline. Because I think there are a lot to concern in this part. I have to make sure each paragraph's idea can support the thesis statement of the article and I have enough reference material to support each paragraph. The final part is the easiest part for me. Correcting grammar errors, sentence structure and spelling usually will not take a long time and I can use Grammarly to do some help.
ReplyDelete-zheng.1571
The most difficult part for me is starting the paragraph. I don't know how to choose the best topic for my paper. The topic has to be interesting and support me to write such a long paragraph. And revising is my favorite part because it is easy for me to make revisions and improve my paragraph by finding mistakes and fix them.
ReplyDeleteFeifan Wang
Citation coule be the hardest part for me. After deciding the topic and starting writing, the relativity between the citation and my ideas becomes a peoblem. The materuals I found are always not strong enough to prove my ideas. Also my favourite part is demonstrating my own opinions. I like to think questions at different aspects especially strange aspects. This makes me feel excited when I am eriting.
ReplyDelete--Duoyuan Wang
For me, the most fun for writing process is when I am able to write the whole article in a continuous process without stopping. As long as I setting the central idea of this article, I can write with joy. Sometimes I get fun from reading peer reviews as you can understand what other people's feeling towards to your article.
ReplyDelete----Henry Huang
I appreciate your ability of get a random idea for the writing process and kept everything down on a notebook. This is creative juice to keep your article interesting. I never tried out such way to document every thoughts I had during the writing process but I believe this is helpful and I will try this method in my future writing.
ReplyDeleteAs for me, the hardest part is getting start. I prefer to start my writing after I have planed all the parts. But it is really hard to plan everything carefully when you start to prepare, so it is hard for me to seat down and start my paper. One advantage about this method is that, after your planning, all the other steps is easy for you, and while you are writing, it is rejoice to see that all parts of paper are follow your plan.
ReplyDelete--Yukun Zheng
I can honestly say citations are the least fun to do since finding reliable sources and then citing them takes a while. Getting started is also very time consuming and somewhat difficult for me, especially when I have a general idea of what I want to say but can’t put it on paper in a coherent way. I also used to dislike the peer review process because the idea of someone reviewing my work and picking it apart was nerve wracking to me, but I’ve become grateful for the feedback. Revising and checking grammar is just about the one thing I do like in the writing process and I think I enjoy it so much because it’s the least stressful part when writing a paper.
ReplyDelete--Faiza Rahman
My most difficult two aspects of the writing process are getting started and the citations. I often find myself with Writer's block at the beginning of when I sit down to write something. But as soon as I start going, it's very hard for me to stop before I finish. With the citations, in the past I have always found myself not meeting the teacher's standards even when I thought my citations were correct.
ReplyDelete--Jacob Gordon
The most challenging or my least favourite part of the Writing Process are brainstorming a relevant and interesting topic and also getting started with the writing. Whenever I brainstorm a topic, I tend to overthink the challenges which leads me to take forever to start writing. The least challenging part of the Writing Process for is the the Citation part because I'm pretty familiar with the APA Citation Style Format.
ReplyDelete~~Ryan Goh
The most challenging part for me is revising my document. I usually make a LOT of mistakes when writing so I think that it's the best part for my writing. After reading through my papers, I go back and think about what I was trying to say and end up rewriting it after that. After a few look throughs and many rewrites I finally get the paper I want. My favorite part of writing is starting off. I can usually write a solid intro that gives me a good direction for my paper.
ReplyDelete- Brad Knez
- The part of the writing process which is the hardest for me is definitely getting started in the free writing phase. I am more of a detail oriented person rather than an idea person, so I am good at the revision part of the writing process, but I am not particularly good at thinking of the big ideas to write about. I am also not great at citations because I always seem to mix up the different formats for different types of citations.
ReplyDelete--Nick Durstock
The
ReplyDeletehardest, but usually most enjoyable part for me, is getting started! I always have an idea of what I want the first paragraph to say, but actually putting it into words is difficult. The first few lines is fun for me because I love hooking the reader into the
essay, so I put a lot of effort into it. I also enjoy other steps of the process, such as editing. Editing is fun because I love re-reading my work and thinking of ways to make it better! I mostly just brainstorm throughout the process, so I will try to write
these thoughts down because I do forget them occasionally!
--Miqaela Kaitlin Keller
The most difficult part for me is getting started. It just difficult for me to think a topic to write on, my brain will automatically concern about what can I write about, how long can I write, and what sources can I use when a topic appears in my mind, then in the end, I will generally discard too many potential topics. However, the good point is when I finally decide what to write, the writing process is often smooth and enjoyable.
ReplyDelete--Yang Jiang
For me, the hardest part is finding a main point to connect all of my ideas with. Finding this and then putting it explicitly into words always proves to be difficult for me. However, once I have this idea, I do enjoy categorizing all of my ideas into points of support. Citing has never bothered me too much, however it depends on the method of citing being used for a certain assignment. I also enjoy proofreading my writing to eliminate unneeded information or words.
ReplyDelete-Emma Lorenzo
Siyuan Zhang
ReplyDeleteThe least fun part of the writing process for me is fulfill the enough words/pages of the essay. When I finish structuring the essay, the next step is fulfill the paragraph. We have to use many explanations and detailed examples to give the reader a brief understanding. Sometimes I cannot use my own words to illustrate the idea, the readers may not exactly get the ideas I want to show in the essay. The interesting and hard part of writing an essay for me is give the basic structures or the outlines. This is because, it is the first out look of the essay. It must be clear and big enough to let words filled in.
The least fun part for me when it comes to writing a paper is the citations. Granted, I enjoy researching a topic, and gathering different perspectives and viewpoints and comparing and contrasting them with my own. However, when it comes to a typical English course, at least those I’ve had in the past, where we are told we must use X number or sources in the paper, I feel it can take away from the quality of the paper I am writing or force me to go on more than I need to on certain points just to meet the minimum.
ReplyDeleteThe most fun part in the writing process is the pre-writing because it is basically a complete dump of my thoughts into tangible words. Majority of the time, these thoughts are not in order, making them incoherent. But after sitting down and piecing together these idea, I am, typically, able to form a structured idea from all the random thoughts that sparked in my head during this phase of writing. The fun for me is seeing these thought, some more useful than others, and seeing the flow of thought that I went through to get to the conclusion that I wanted.
ReplyDeleteVictor Caraballo III
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I always find finishing off my paper and doing the conclusion to be the hardest. Most of the time I struggle to get it over three sentences. My favorite part is oddly just writing the body paragraphs. I feel as if you start with a good intro the body paragraphs kinda just write themselves. I love the idea of having a "scraps" document with everything you didn't end up using. It's a small thing but seems like it can be very helpful in the end.
The hardest writing process for me would be getting started. Getting started for me is difficult because I honestly don't know where to even begin with. After reading this blog, I feel like I can comfortably start a paper by just writing things down first and then work on my introduction later. My favorite part of the writing process would just be doing my citations since that's the easiest in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteThe most difficult part in writing process for me is that decide the subject. I always have a long time without any idea before writing. Also, I can quit easily change my subject after I get started, because I often feel that my subject is too narrow to fit the word count requirement or too broad to explain clearly. But when I make a decision, I can find many relative topics to write, so the easiest and most interesting part for me in writing is to brainstorm ideas.
ReplyDelete-- Huaijin Yang
The most difficult part for me is definitely getting started. It takes longer to decide the thesis statement than to write the body paragraphs. Sometimes I come up with an interesting and unique thesis statement and cannot find enough evidence to prove it. I actually like to write the body paragraphs after I write down a good thesis. Finding proper quotes, explaining them, and using them to support my thesis is always my favorite part when write a paper.
ReplyDelete——Yoyo Zhang
I think for me the hardest process is getting started. I get in my own head and don't even know where to begin. I'm also self conscious of my writing because it is something I struggle with, so this makes the writing process even more stressful for me. Once I actually get my introduction paragraph down, the body paragraphs come a lot more naturally for me. The introduction is hard because I know what I want to say, but I'm not always sure how to get those words on paper.
ReplyDelete-Christen Alguire
DeleteMy least favorite parts in the writing process are definitely getting started and revising. I always found the beginning of actually writing a paper challenging since the first few sentences and paragraphs generally have to grab the reader's attention. Revising isn't hard, I just find it a bit boring. My favorite parts in the writing process are research and organization of thoughts, and actually writing. I enjoy researching and organizing my thoughts on paper, and once i get started I find the actual writing part of the writing process to be enjoyable.
ReplyDelete-- Parker Spielvogel
DeleteI think for me the most challenging part of writing is revising. Because I'm not a native English speaker, sometimes even I check my article many times, there may be still some mistakes in it. Especially for some sentences, the grammar may correct, but the native speakers usually not speak like that so that the readers would feel confused. And I think the most interest part is writing the first draft because at that time I can write out my thinking about the topic.
ReplyDelete- Yunjie Shi
I think the hardest part for me is to find an topic and then support thesis statement with evidence. And the my favorite part is to do the research or give actual evidence to support the statement.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteThe hardest part for me is always getting started with that first body paragraph or citations. I hate formatting citations and find it frustrating. That first body paragraph is always hard to get rolling, and I tend to feel like my sentences are choppy throughout it. I love writing the conclusion because that means I am done writing and can go on to editing.
ReplyDeleteI think for me the hardest part is getting started. It seems hard to come up with ideas and organized them in my mind. Also, it may require a lot of research to get started which is not an easy thing for me. Additionally, I would like to say the favorite part is finishing the writing because I could feel a sense of accomplishment for that.
ReplyDeleteLike anyone else, the hardest part for me is also the beginning of the whole writing. However, this blog provide me a good way to getting start with my article. Finding source for citation is a hard job as well. The citation should be suitable for my topic and support my argument as well, which foce me to spend a lot of time to take care of it.
ReplyDeleteYanzhe Jiang
ReplyDeletejiang.1647
Like anyone else, the hardest part for me is also the beginning of the whole writing. However, this blog provide me a good way to getting start with my article. Finding source for citation is a hard job as well. The citation should be suitable for my topic and support my argument as well, which foce me to spend a lot of time to take care of it.
The hardest part about writing for me is not “sweating the small stuff.” I often get hung up on the first part of an essay and end up rushing the end. Although the final result usually turns out ok, I would like to improve the consistency of my writing quality from start to finish. Part of the problem is that I spend too much time erasing and rewriting. I like the idea of saving everything I write down during the “building process” and referring back to it while penning the final draft.
ReplyDelete--Sarah Khoury
"Writing is a challenging and intriguing process, however, I even usually stuck before I started writing. Normally, I would like to construct the whole article before I start and finish it at once no matter how long it takes after I start writing. Sometimes this costs me a lot of time because I spent too much time in "constructing" details of articles before I start. After reading this article about writing process, maybe next time I will try just coming up the structure of the article before I start and relaxing my brain when thinking about the details."
ReplyDelete--Boyu Wang
I think the hardest part of the writing process is getting started. Once you get into it, your writing starts to flow and become easier. It is getting that eye-catching introduction that is important. I also think revising is sometimes difficult because you do not notice your mistakes as much because you have written it and read over it so many times. That is why it is best to have someone else look over your work because they see mistakes better and easier than you do yourself.
ReplyDeleteLihuang Zhang
ReplyDeleteI think the hardest part for me is getting start and choosing topic. The detailed explanation , definition, and some description for my theme would be given when I get start. I often spend much time on choosing topic, and think too much on the following steps. The theme of on writing should be clear and interesting, because I sometimes would digress from the subject. Also, good topic can stimulate me to get more idea and thinking. In addition, I really like to raising and peer review. I always have some small points for my every theme of paragraph. Peer review can get a lot of interesting stories and some idea that I cannot think of it. The most important is that I can appreciate one whole article.
zhang.8657
I think the hardest part for me is getting start and choosing topic. The detailed explanation , definition, and some description for my theme would be given when I get start. I often spend much time on choosing topic, and think too much on the following steps. The theme of on writing should be clear and interesting, because I sometimes would digress from the subject. Also, good topic can stimulate me to get more idea and thinking. In addition, I really like to raising and peer review. I always have some small points for my every theme of paragraph. Peer review can get a lot of interesting stories and some idea that I cannot think of it. The most important is that I can appreciate one whole article.
ReplyDelete—Lihuang Zhang
Writing overall can be overwhelming if you really are not confident. The process or the detail that is required can be rigorous! I was always scared of writing until i found different things in each style of writing that i love, such as narratives. My favorite part of writing is the introduction, i always loved how to catch the readers eye. My least favorite part is figuring out a topic that i can organize the body paragraphs well enough to be understood, this is really hard especially when the topic is not really something you agree with. With peer review its always nice to hear their cretics, because maybe they had an idea you may have thought of before but lost it so you could add that in. So overall its easier to be confident and try to steer with relatable topics.
ReplyDelete