Jackie
Marschke
Professor Werner
English
213
2/4/13
Project 1: What’s Your Process?
Before college, writing was never my
favorite thing. This was probably because I hadn’t found an effective writing
process for myself yet. But as I was challenged by the expectations of the
college classroom, I found a process that works, and one that taught me to love
writing. My process is very distinct: from the space in which I work to the
ways in which I revise, conditions have to be perfect for me to create strong
writing pieces.
Before I can even think about beginning
to write, I need to be in an environment that is conducive to focused energy
and productivity. I always get very distracted when I try to do work at home (and
now, my dorm). But I discovered that a coffee shop environment is the best
place for me to get quality work done. At school, the Kletz or Cup &
Chaucer are the ideal productivity spots for me (when I don’t want to walk all
the way out to Lemonjello’s or JP’s). Having all of these wonderful coffee
shops nearby gives me options and I often end up going on a little adventure to
find the best spot on a given day; whichever fits my mood at the time is the
place I need to be. And of course, with a coffee shop comes coffee. I need my
coffee. I can’t get any quality work done without it. When I’m settled at the
perfect table, laptop open and coffee in hand, I click open Pandora Radio and
set it to my Celtic Music Station. This may seem like a random music choice (in
fact, my friends tend to poke fun at me for it), but I grew up listening to
Celtic music and it brings me comfort and contentment every time I hear it. The
similar instrumental rhythmic beat of each song is less distracting than the
wide variety of lyrical pop songs the Taylor Swift Station plays. Once all of
this is in place, I am ready to begin.
My next step is to assess the rubric I
have been given. Each piece of academic writing is different and every professor
has different expectations for their assignments. This may be an obvious fact
of the academic setting, but these differing expectations greatly affect the
direction in which my essays will go. Discerning what is expected of me gives
me a springboard to go off of, allowing me to discover the perfect balance of my
own voice with a rhetorical position that will give me a strong piece to answer
the assignment.
After
consulting the rubric and deciding which direction to take my piece, I write
out an outline. An outline is the backbone of each of my pieces, and I have a
very distinct way about creating it. My outline notes have to be written in
light blue ink (which helps me keep my notes separate from my rhetoric, in
black). My outline and my essay also always begin on the same document; I
delete my outline notes as I form the actual piece. In this way, I see my
outline become a completed work with more immediate satisfaction than if I
wrote it on a separate document. This allows me to get all my ideas out on the
page before I hone in on specifics. It also helps with the immediacy of my
thought process: often when I write, I will get an idea that might fit better
later on in the piece. Instead of stopping in the middle of my current thought
or trying to remember my new idea while I’m focusing another, I can just take a
moment to jot down a quick blue note somewhere on my page to come back to
later. That way, I don’t forget ideas that could potentially strengthen my
writing. My notes are my inspiration. Sometimes just a word or phrase I jot
down can trigger a whole paragraph for me; sometimes I can formulate the flow
of whole sentences in blue notes. It is especially exciting for me when an
outline note is eloquent enough to simply copy and paste where it fits and automatically
change it from blue to black.
When I begin to write actual
rhetoric, my meticulous outlining becomes my life saver because that
blue-to-black transition can be difficult for me depending on the topic and how
invested I am in that topic. With my thoughts all laid out on the page, I can
easily create flow as I string them all together. Sometimes as I write, the
flow of my piece changes from what I originally jotted down. But this rarely
discourages me. In fact, I get quite excited when I can take a blue note and
copy and paste it in to a new section of my paper where it fits better (or even
when I can delete notes to create stronger ideas). I write paragraph by
paragraph, and not always in order. I tend to skip around, writing a paragraph
for a point that will come later in my essay and going back to my earlier
points afterward; this all depends on which thoughts come to me first or which
are more exciting for me to write about. I also usually have to write in
chunks. I generally can get in a good two to three hours of solid work in
before I get overwhelmed or distracted; once I hit that mark, my argument
easily starts to become weak and my language sloppy. If I don’t finish an essay
within that time frame (which is usually the case) I have to put it aside and
then come back to it later that day, or even the next day when I am more
refreshed.
Once
I complete a draft, I read it over myself to make sure I have written all that
I needed to. I tend to do this read-through aloud, to make sure that my ideas
transferred to paper in a clean and understandable fashion. If some thoughts
seem unfinished (or even too lengthy), I make revisions and then edit my
grammar. Once I am satisfied with the draft, I print off a copy for my friend
to edit. Taylor Ann is an English Major and would like to be an editor; she
gives great notes. I tell her to “tear it apart,” allowing her to give me notes
that will challenge my argument. Then I make corrections and adjustments based
on how I want my paper to flow. Taylor Ann and I have an understanding that I
might not take all of her notes if I don’t think they will benefit my argument
(after all, a writer has to establish their own voice). In this way, I can
create a stronger piece.
I use this writing process, not only for
academic essays, but for other writing projects as well. I keep a blog about
all my experiences in the theatre, and I experiment with playwriting and
storytelling. Every time I start a new blog post or script, I begin with this
same process. I sometimes even find myself going through this process when I
write emails! Now that I discovered a process that works, I really do love writing.
I always want my work to be something I can be proud of, and my process has given
me that opportunity. As tedious and meticulous it may seem, I really do rely on
it. This process has allowed me to discover the type of writer that I am and through
it I have created some of my favorite pieces.
