Writing Changes

Once you have been writing for a while you will probably begin to notice changes in your writing. It could be a modification of your writing process, a new level of sentence structure, what you write about, or even how writing makes you feel. Writing can be a great tool of empowerment. The next time you sit down to write try to be aware of how your writing has changed over that past days, weeks, months, or even years.

What Comes Next?

Now that you have thought about your writing process and have something to write about it is time to execute. It doesnt matter if you are writing a poem or an analysis of an article, you need to follow through with your writing process. A great book to read about writing is, “Ron Carlson Writes A Story” by Ron Carlson. It is about writing short fiction but many of the concepts could apply to any style of writing. The concept that stuck with me from the book was the idea of eliminating distractions from your writing. He talks about avoiding using the internet or even refilling your coffee cup when you run out. He says that you need to write until you are finished no matter what. Another great tool for instruction on writing can be found on youtube.com. A professor named Michael Abernethy from Indiana University Southeast has put together a series of videos to correspond with a writing clourse he calls the “Writing Capstone.”

Here are a few links to his videos that I found relevent or entertaining:

The Writing Process

One of the first things to consider when you begin writing is how the writing process works for you. I write about my writing process in another blog that you can read here. Everyone should have a unique way that they enter the process of writing. It doesnt matter what a person is writing there needs to be a process. It is important to have a routine that you get into for writing. When you have a routine, and are able to settle into the mode of writing, whatever the writing may be, then you are able to focus on the writing. Think about what you have done in the past to get into your writing. Think about how you might change that process if you were in an ideal setting. Once you have thought about these two things, figure out if there is any way you can combine your current writing process with your ideal writing process.

Here is a link to a video on the writing process. This is not the only way the process can work but it is something you can use to start from.

What Is Writing?

Remember Thanksgiving in grade school and learning about the Pilgrims? It was fifth grade, you were sick and tired of hearing about Columbus and his crew, how they sailed the ocean blue, and how they were best friends with the Indians, when it happened. Your teacher asked you to get out your pencil and notebook then said, “Class, for the next six weeks you are going to write a journal as if you were one of the first Pilgrims to settle the colonies.” A collective sigh was generated by the entire class and let out in one giant release of resignation, except for that one kid in the front of the class who opened his notebook, with the smell of the wind coming in off the ocean filling his lungs, the sand molding to his sea weary footsteps, and a vision spreading out before him of a future civilization captured in the all-encompassing witness of his pen.

I was that kid, and for me that was where writing became meaningful, where it became a part of who I was. Since that moment of awakening, writing has taken on many facets in my life. Writing is where I go to find meaning, where I go to make meaning, and has become a venue for discussion with myself on the what I believe. When I write I write in several different genres. I write poetry to help distil single moments in life or to ask questions about what is important; I write fiction to explore new feelings, places, or perspectives; I write creative non-fiction to explore the past; I write essays for class to explore different aspects of Literature, make meaning out of a text, or to analyze a text.

This blog is going to explore what writing is for an incoming freshman and will introduce different avenues to a personalized approach to writing and composition.

Here is a youtube video about writing featuring Peter Elbow.