You've been taught the writing process, but now it's time to throw it out. Expert writers take the process, and then adapt it to make it their own.
Recently, I learned a valuable lesson about my own writing process from my students. In my recent teacher action research project (Self-Assessment and the Writing Process: FYC Students can ADAPT to Develop as Reflective Writers), I found that students are reluctant to go deep with revision of their work, even when explicitly taught that self-assessment of one's writing involves reflection and action on the text based on that reflection. For years students have been taught the linear steps of the writing process, and they seem to check off each step sometimes without purpose.
The writing process itself has become problematic.
I reflected on this finding, and realized that I, too, a graduate student on the precipice of her second master's degree (and one in writing, no less!) have failed to own my own writing process. I've asked my students to design their own writing process. And then decided to do the same.
Here's advice from the rituals that work best for me:
Reserve a fairly big chunk of time for writing to get a lot done at once. Why? Starting is the hardest part, so cut down on the starts/stops. I find the type of critical thinking and connections I make are more fluid once I am in the flow of writing. Get into the flow. Part of this is finding the ideal environment for writing. Not listening to the radio and not checking email is part of my ideal environment (which is hard for me to resist but I’ve found through trial and error that I save time in the end).
That said, know when to stop writing. There’s always a point where I realize that I am “trying to finish” rather than writing well. That’s a good point to stop and come back later. Plan ahead to give yourself this luxury.
Be aware of how the writing process works best for you. I always write before I outline. I find outlines to be more helpful once I want to think about organization and structure, which for me comes later, after I know what I’m thinking because I’ve done some writing.
Read. I’m not the first to say it, and I won’t be the last. Read before you write. Read while you’re writing - tabs, anyone? Read after you write. Then write again.
Find a reader from your discourse community; not just anyone. Your reader should be someone who cares about the topic, who understand the jargon, knows about the genre and why you would write in it. If you don’t know what a discourse community is, and you want to improve as a writer, go read about it.
Pull up a sample text written in the same genre and refer to it as you revise. What does it do well that you can adapt?
Think selfishly. Or go internal, if you want to be PC. Decide how you want to represent your identity through your writing, and make your writing sound like that version of yourself.
Think visually. I use this practice both when I am in front of a draft and away from it. If I think about my writing in images and objects it helps me see connections between ideas, blank spots or missing ideas, as well as how the writing might come across as a visual message to my reader. I do most of my best thinking about my writing when I'm not actually sitting in front of it.
Go hiking. Okay, that's not part of my process, but it's fun (and gives you space to think away from your computer)!
Finally, ADAPT: Take action on your writing that Depends on your Awareness of People and Texts!
Now you know my writing process.
What's yours?
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