My Writing Process

My writing process definitely differs from most people. I often times find it hard writing things down, whether in taking notes or studying for a test. I do most things mentally and find it is easier for me to keep it that way. I tend to keep better track of things with minimal paper and mostly keep it all in memory. When I write something, whether it be an essay or just an email, I tend to ponder the question at hand before sitting down to write. For essays, I commonly research my topic and print out the articles and readings. Afterwards, I do a quick read through highlighting important quotes that I could use in the essay. Than I take a small break, normally to get food or something, and start formulating my ideas on the topic. I begin a mental brainstorm figuring out my general overall ideas for the essay (a mental outline). After I feel confident in my knowledge of the topic, I sit down at my computer and type it out. For me, I often run through an entire essay from intro paragraph to conclusion. The first sentences are always the hardest for me, but once I start flowing, I tend to bang out the rest easily. As I am working, I also tend to edit my ideas in my head and correct my sentences grammatically as I type them. I try to be as formal and eloquent the first time around. After I finish I save my essay, walk away from it, come back to it at a later day, and do another read of it correcting any mistakes I may not have been able to catch. I ensure my ideas flow nicely, that my sentence and paragraph structures are in logical order, and my grammar and syntax is correct. I am done once I feel confident about my paper, but not a second before. This is my very simple process that I have fine-tuned mentally over many years. In high school, I would write out outlines and ideas first, but would suffer on the essay when I sat down to write it. In writing my ideas down, I would more easily forget my main points mentally so that the drafting process was more difficult. I would have to reread my ideas jotted down and focus on them, more so than the overall essay. This made it harder to flow when I actually wrote it because my writing would be broken up by averting my attention to previous things I wrote which would usually be dispersed between numerous pages front and back. In addition, with quotes I usually find them before I write, but add them in at the end. Once I start writing and I start going, I don’t like to divert my attention from it in any way. I like getting out all my ideas on paper, and than later adding the quotes in where they support my points. Never stop a writer at work, because writer’s block is a hard thing to overcome…especially when all your ideas are coming together so perfectly.

-Kevin-