Project 1 Process Review

When I began drafting, the first thing I had to do, like so many others, was come up with an idea. Once I had an idea, I could roll with it. And when I say roll with it, I really do mean just that. I try to take it all over the place. Take it any possible direction it could go. That way I knew that when I decided the specific direction to take it, it was the best option. After I found my specific direction is when I began actually drafting and writing for this project.

My process began very slowly. It took me a little while to realize how we were supposed to go about doing this, and once I found that out it may have caused even more of a problem. My community was a community of observers. Who is that? And where are they? What makes them what people think of them as? None of these really had solid definite answers. I’ve known people and do know people who are observant but I would not say they would describe that as one of their main roles. So I had to start from scratch. I went around and asked people what comes to mind when they think of an observant person, and the questions actually came back with some excellent feedback. Several genuine stereotypes were brought about and that was just what I needed. The only problem being, I still did not have other individuals within this community to specifically, rather than broadly, compare myself to. This problem actually played a part in how my final draft and presentation came about too. I know there are people out there that, like myself, classify themselves under an observant role in life, but personally I did not know any. As a result of, I could not talk of any personal experiences of others in my essay which is what it called for. So I decided to leave it out as a whole.

Once I had my information for my essay I just let it all out. I wrote, and wrote, and wrote. I redrafted and corrected mistakes and had others do the same. I asked for input by those people closest to me to make sure it related to what I was actually about. Soon enough, I had finished a final rough draft and could go from there.

Some things worked well for me in the process, others, not so much. I definitely struggle in a way to apply my role into stereotypical examples within the community due to the fact that I had no personal experiences with anyone aside from myself. Though I also think I went about finding correct stereotype of an observant people by asking random people what their first thought was of someone of that sort. My redrafting and changing the sentence structure and flow also worked well.

In this essay I believe I related my own personal experiences well to the stereotypes of an observant person. I gave reasons for why I did or did not fit the stereotypes and believe I made it relatively clear as to why that was.

In the essay, like I said before, there are parts I believe I could have done better such as writing of the observant community as a whole. I had no basis to go from so there are no specific examples of an action of people in the community in comparison to my own in the paper. Simply just myself compared to stereotypes.

Most in-class assignments and homework seemed to work well for me. Everything kept me on task and allowed me to keep up and practice my writing skills constantly.

One aspect of my writing skills that I struggle with is peer-reviewing others papers. If someone’s paper is awful, then I can help. But it is those in-between good and great that I struggle with finding a way to help. One writing skill that I have become comfortable with so far is staying on task and keeping up so that I never have to just spit something out. I can always write when I am in a writing mood.

'Ze' Process

In most cases my writing is done under pressure, stress, and of course the deadline. I enjoy writing but somehow I always find myself putting it off until I no longer can. So in terms of preparation for my writing, it is usually minimal unless it is a research paper; however, it seems that this is when my best writing finds its way out. Somehow, it is as if when I have no choice but to put the words to the paper it just begins to flow. In the overall scheme, writing is one of my favorite hobbies, but without proper motivation to do so, aside from an occasional journal or dream entry, I never get around to doing so.

Most often when I begin or work on writing a paper I am sitting at a desk of some sort, often away from other people and quiet. Once I start though, in most cases, I turn on some music that is relaxing and unfamiliar or else I will find myself distracted by singing or tapping out the beats. Depending on what it is I am writing, I switch between starting with a draft on paper or just diving straight in on my laptop. Oddly, my result in the quality of material produced switches back and forth between the two. Although, when I do a draft on paper my final draft afterwards seems to come easier after I’ve already written some because I’m able to elaborate more the second time through. One problem I always seem to run into when I start on my laptop though is distractions. Youtube, facebook, and a plethora of other terrible time-wasters always seem to find their way into my screen and side-track me away from my priorities. Maybe as future advice to myself, I should use pen and paper for starters just as hundreds of other brilliant writers have done before my time.

To this point on the road I’ve traveled, I have never had much more of an audience, aside from once, than just simply my English teacher. On that one occasion though, I was almost done with freshman year and was asked to give a speech to the incoming kids for next year. This one in particular I had to really think about what I could say to grab their attention and make them really listen to what I had to say. Like in most cases, I just laid around and drifted into thought for awhile. About my own experiences, about things my friends loved, opportunities I had missed, any sort of wisdom I gained through my one year, and it worked. A few kids even came up to me the next year and thanked me, which I think meant much more to me than anything I had done for them.

When I write drafts, if I do at all, it is usually a few good sentences, a thesis, and random scribbles of ideas in between. Most often once I sit down to write, I write. I try to get it all out of me while it is fresh. Once I try to come back to something my mind set has change most likely a bit and mixes my composition. If along the way I hit a writer’s block, my solutions sometimes vary. Sometimes it is just whatever pops into this mixed up mind of mine but often eating anything does the trick. After I finish I usually print it out to revise physically with a pen rather than on the screen, and I pay attention to the sentence structure, commas, and overall flow of the paper more than anything else.

In my writing process I believe my ability to just sit down and spit it all out is my most effective part. Nonetheless, this part is also something that worries me. I feel as if I may rely on it too much and it could be a bad habit if the assignment is extremely time consuming. I suppose this year I will have to try and kick my procrastination out the door and be on top of my writing, along with all my other classes. Of all the different steps taken through writing a paper I would, with no doubt at all have to say I love proof reading the finished project. The satisfaction you get from reading the words that came from you is an overwhelming one; it gives a huge sense of accomplishment.