In “On Becoming a Writer,” the author, Russell Baker, expressed his interest in writing as a way of thinking about himself and forming an identity. “The only thing that truly interested me was writing, “he states. “It was the only thing for which I seemed to have the smallest talent…” Even though he used to dislike English classes in high school, in his third year, the chance of being a writer knocked on his door. When Mr. Fleagle, the English professor, with an out of date look and behavior, took over the class, he brought on an opportunity to Russell to realize his talent and stay with open eyes for the future.…
*Adapted from Reinking, J. A., Hart, A. W., & Von der Osten, R. (2003). Strategies for successful writing: A rhetoric, research guide, reader, and handbook (6th ed.). Boston: Prentice-Hall/Pearson Custom Publishing.…
The majority of newspaper reporters and technical writers write unemotionally and detached from their readers by revealing nothing about themselves. Kurt Vonnegut’s “How to Write with Style” suggests seven principles on how writers should scrutinize and assess their own writing style in order to attain a personal voice in addition to the ideas in hand.…
Lamott states “The right words and sentences just do not come pouring out like ticker tape most of the time for writers.” People have this unreasonable perspective that experienced writers do not have any problems when it comes to writing or that experienced writers can just sit down and write a perfect draft. However, experienced writers do go through the common motion, such as not knowing where to start or where to write more than one rough draft. Even though, experienced writers go through the common motion listed above, they do not allow those common motions to defeat them, besides that is what makes them professional writers.…
After reading the article “The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers” by Sondra Perl I have been forced to understand how writers write. The writing process is a situation that is approached from various angles. In the writing process techniques and sequences from person to person are often diverse, but it is one of the ways one may be expressed. The goal of Perl study was to “see how unskilled writers write, can their writing process be analyzed in a systematic, replicable manner, and what does an increased understanding of their process suggest about nature of composing in general and the manner in which writing is taught in schools.” (191) With Perl performing this observation and collecting several amounts of data I decided to perform an observation on my writing by paying close attention to how I write. With analyzing I realized that my writing process have a very sequential pattern. I also have noticed that many acts of critical planning and editing are carried out through many of my writings and it has had a negative effect on the majority of my writing masterpieces. Subsequent to carefully critiquing my writing I have realized that all individuals have a different way they write.…
Included below are three essays, a summary and response, a visual analysis, and a rhetorical analysis. While working on these three pieces I have developed new strategies that have helped me to better understand and practice writing as a process. These strategies include summarizing, collaboration, brainstorming, editing, revision and discussion.…
The art of writing is a unique skill that requires the writer to have great flexibility and be open to improvement. Some may consider themselves a “perfect writer”, when in reality, no one is, and will ever be. Writing is a process that requires one to continuously build on skills learned in previous situations, applying new techniques and strategies to future writing projects. Different settings require different writing styles, and with that being said, one must be willing to change their writing skills to suit the requirements of their current setting. In the following essay I will reflect on past writing assignments, identifying my best and worst writing courses, strengths and weaknesses as a writer, and my opinion on why writing may or may not be beneficial to me throughout my career.…
In the past a thousand weeks, I feel like I have accomplished a great deal. As the quarter ends, I find myself reflecting not only how I have survived my fifth quarter but also what I have learned. The most important thing I have learned so far is how to become a better writer. I did not think it could really happen to me. I did not think I could handle all the work. I did not think I could actually become a better writer. Somehow, after all the hours of writing, and putting effort into my papers that I wrote in this quarter, I became a better writer. I did this because I concentrated on two very important areas. With help from an awesome teacher and my partner, I have become a better writer by improving my skills in the areas of procrastination and content.…
Natalie Goldberg is a firm believer in the writing exercise, which is an excellent way to keep in good form. The author, a practicing Zen Buddhist, manages to address most of the problems that sabotage the process itself. According to Goldberg, it is the way we approach and perceive the craft itself that ultimately prevents writers from producing the work. She opens with a chapter labeled, “First Thoughts,” which advocates letting go of all of one’s ego and inhibition. “We must trust in our own process and voice,” she insists.…
Two years ago, I would say nothing in particular provokes me about writing. I would rather spend my valuable time on presentations or discussions than writing research papers. I always found myself was lost. I couldn’t focus on the content of my prompt. I failed to make my words convincing and authoritative. I am not a good researcher, also not an outstanding rhetorical writer, even today, but I did find something valuable on myself in these two years.…
When one masters a certain practice, one becomes confident and nearly perfects the practice either because one had guidance or practiced continuously. I have not put myself in either one of those situations. To be honest, I write ‘put myself’ because I believe I had the choice of removing myself from classrooms to another better one; and the choice of being able to discipline myself to practice writing continuously.…
When a person begins writing they have many obstacles that they must overcome. Some face issues with creating well-written sentences, writing thesis sentences and others face issues with expanding their vocabulary. It can be difficult to do and takes a great deal of practice and patience. A student, Amanda Grumke, faced these same obstacles as she began writing. At the beginning of her English Composition 1 class, her writing landed at a very low level. After a semester of practice, she has made improvements. Amanda has improved her sentence structures, transitional words, and improved points of view.…
Mike Rose presents an issue about student`s block during writing. He starts expressing an example extracted from interviews of undergradutes from UCLA who five of them present this block problem and the other five do not. They have this issue because most of them are in rushed, late papers or they do not trust on their own skills because of previous experiences. It is also explained that emotion brings this problem and these emotion are what divide the five students with this block problem and the other five who does not present it. Also, the students who were not in problem could have used some rules or strategies to avoid the problem. The first strategie is called rules. It is defined as ‘’an inferred capability that enables the individual…
In the following essay, I will reflect on my past experiences of writing, my strengths, weaknesses, and potential goals moving forward. My writing experience has been a difficult process for me. I never enjoyed writing, never thought I was good at it, and have basically tried to avoid it at all cost. I can recall many moments in my life where I struggled with writing. As I think about my writing in high school, it is pretty depressing. I would often spend countless hours pondering on what I should write about. I have done numerous papers, ranging from summer reading essays to research papers. The process was very stressful to me. At times I would become extremely aggravated and procrastinate when I write. In certain situations, that was not the brightest idea. I lacked confidence in my early writing experience, but now I have a since of knowledge and understanding when I write. The biggest…
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1924, Donald M. Murray taught writing for many years at the University of New Hampshire, his alma mater. He has served as an editor at Time magazine, and he won the Pulitzer Prize in 1954 for editorials that appeared in the Boston Globe. Murray’s published works include novels, short stories, poetry, and sourcebooks for teachers of writing, like A Writer Teaches Writing (1968), The Craft of Revision (1991), and Learning by Teaching (1982), in which he explores aspects of the writing process. Write to Learn, (6th ed,. 1998), a textbook for college composition courses, is based on Murray’s belief that writers learn to write by writing, by taking a piece of writing through the whole process, from invention to revision. In the following essay, first published in the Writer in October 1973 and later revised for this text, Murray discusses the importance of revision to the work of the writer. Most professional writers live by the maxim that “writing is rewriting.” And to rewrite or revise effectively, we need to become better readers of our own work, open to discovering new meanings, and sensitive to our use of language. Murray draws on the experiences of many writers to make a compelling argument for careful revising and editing.…