#3 - Writing...

There is no other love-hate relationship than the one between myself and writing. On one end, there is the satisfaction of successfully expressing your thoughts in writing, fully believing you have conquered writer’s block and should begin brainstorming ideas for a future novel. On the other end, the planning and organizing of ideas, the blockages, and the dreaded page count unite and have you seriously second-guessing that novel idea. In saying this, my writing process, and level of stress, depends on the type of writing I am working through.   

Academic writing requires the most planning and consideration, usually beginning with a deep, centering breath before I jump in. First, I’ll start with narrowing down my central idea and thesis. This helps me during my next step, which is creating a rough outline of the topics I’ll need to cover. Once I have my main idea and an outline of my paper, I focus on the individual sections of my outline and write down the main points for each that will require evidence or quotes from the text(s). Locating evidence is the part that takes up the most time, second to actually writing. I dedicate time to this portion because having information at the ready is convenient and it alleviates the stress of needing to find that specific quote for a point I’m trying to make while I’m already in the process of writing.

Aside from the process of academic writing, it is the rules and constraints that make it a bit more tedious for me rather than creative writing. With creative writing, it can be chaotic and stressful attempting to translate an idea into something comprehensible, but it is chaotic fun. Writers are encouraged to use their voice and simply write without the burden of rules and assessment guiding their process. Spandel writes: “For one thing, we need to write more and assess less. When everything (or almost everything) students write is assessed, they learn to be careful. They write to please the assessor. They keep their writing short so there will be less to assess and write in generalities so no one will take offense.” (69). As a student who still worries about writing for the assessor, this perspective resonates with me. Writing becomes a task that people dread because they fear the rules and the notion that they need to “sound smart” at all times, when writing can really be a wonderful thing and a craft to be honed over time.

As writing is a craft with many facets, I think the inclusion of multimodal composition is helpful in encouraging people to express themselves through different methods. Using this blog as an example, my process is quite different than what it would be if I were writing an essay. I still rely on creating an outline of what I would like to cover, but it isn’t as detailed as it would be for other formal writing. I can also use images to portray a feeling I have about a certain topic, rather than strictly using words to convey my thoughts. I think that writing in online settings and using multimodal tools can relieve the pressure of writing, and encourage people who aren’t writers to find creative ways to find some enjoyment in it.