RJ #2

Peter Elbows writing about how to approach writing is very diverse in the sense of the
different ideas he has about writing in general. Elbow says that is process mainly focuses on two
aspects creating and criticizing. An idea that I agreed with while reading was first write freely
and uncritically so that you can generate as many words and ideas as possible without worrying
whether they are good. I was in agreement with that statement because it correlates with my
own personal process of writing. Elbow says on page 8 that one of the powers of writing is
brainstorming and that is an aspect of writing that I take very seriously. I write down
everything that I think prior to writing a complete piece and it does indeed help me to think more
critically in revision and generating full ideas and language.
The entire reading reminded me of another article I read in UWRT 1101 called I am Not
a Writer, I am a Good Writer. That reading went through the notions of what writing was to the
author and not necessarily the logistics of it. While reading about Elbows thoughts on
brainstorming I remembered an activity I participated in in UWRT 1101 called seeing the
moment. In that activity I sat down and had to think of one single moment and remember
everything I could about it including smells, thoughts, sights, etc. in order to generate ideas for a
personal narrative. That activity helped me to generate ideas that I could later revise and be
critical with in order to write a complete essay, kind of like the free writing Elbow mentioned.
I did not question anything about Elbows writing process or any of the ideas he has
about writing. That is because everything he discusses from brainstorming, thinking critically,
and revision correlates to everything I have ever learned in a writing class before. He hits the nail
on the head when he discusses the issues of people often sound dumber on paper than they
really are due to the fact of not feeling confident in their writing skills and/or not generating
ideas in a worthy way. He really discussed everything in a way that was easy to understand and
truly relatable to me and Im sure to anyone else who would read the article.