Session 1: Tuesday, September1, 2015. Located home in my room. In my desk.

Around 9:30 PM. Parents having dinner. Brother in the couch of the room.
Blackboard and other course pages open on my browser. Webcam window open and
recording. Room well ventilated. Little brother coming in and out of the room.
1-5: Reading assignment directions over and over again. Brother starts singing.
Start brainstorming on my introduction. Back to reading assignment directions. Mom
calls my brother. Brother asks if Im recording myself. I start having a small
conversation with him. I start typing my introduction. Head scratches. Ask my
brother for a translation of a word. Distraction on my nails. [GP] [O] [RD] [RQ] [PS]
[Distractions] [ZZZ] [FAM]
6-10: Start typing again. Rereading phrases to see how they sound. My brother
starts talking nonsense to me. Start playing with the camera. Reading my writing
silently. Going back to reading the assignment and the questions to answer. [O] [RD]
[RQ] [I] [RO] [ZZZ] [FAM]
11-15: I start typing again and revising as I go. I start reading my progress and
start adding to places where I feel thats needed. Now I start typing out loud. Now I
start reading silently what I have typed. Then I decided it was time for a quick break
at the kitchen. I was then 3 or 4 sentences into the body of my essay. [O] [R] [ZZZ]
[WOL]
16-20: I come back and start reading my progress from the beginning. I continue
with my body. Straight 5 minutes of typing. [WS]
21-25: I go back and read the questions that lead your writing in the assignment. I
start singing and acting out a music video. Start playing with the camera again.
Back to typing, fast. Now my brother starts playing the music in his phone. Start
having conversation with my brother. Rereading my writing. [RQ] [M] [FAM]
[Distractions] [WS]
26-30: Typing and thinking. Break cause of not knowing what to write next,
stressing. Meditating. Saying thoughts. Back to typing. [WS] [O] [BR (-)] [ZZZ]
31-35: Typing and looking at a message I got on my phone. Back to reading
directions and questions. Brother peeps over to the camera. Reading over my
writing silently, back to typing quickly no wasting time. Writing out loud since my
brother keeps talking to me. [WS] [RD] [RQ] [FAM] [WOL]
36-40: I start tapping a beat. My brother asks for my car to go to the gym and I
hand him the keys, I immediately go back to writing. Ideas flow even quicker with
complete silence now. Decide its time for a break right after I review my most
recent sentences. [Distractions] [FAM] [WS] [BR (+)]
41-45: After half an hour of using my phone and roaming around the house I come
back to my desk. I refresh on my ideas and read my last few sentences to see
mentally where I left off. I write out loud. I am finally coming to the end of my body.
I start analyzing on how I will attack my conclusion. I read the instructions one last
time. I lay back. [O] [WOL] [OB] RD] [BR(+)]

46-48: I am now finishing my conclusion, I read through to see how I will finish it
off. And yes, I will indeed finish it with a question. I finish off the composition and
read through the whole thing. I save my finalized draft and I stop recording. End of
Session. [GP] [WS]

Carlos Ramirez
Autoethnography

Every writer carries their own process of writing, for example, some are lengthy, and others are
short and quick. What matters is the final product of course, but how exactly are you getting to
that final product? How exactly are you climbing that ladder of steps that will get you to the top
of a powerful and fluent composition? Remember that every action counts towards that gasp of
the reader that takes on your final piece. For me, I have my own, and I can say with confidence
that it is a unique and quick mechanism that will not disappoint a single reader.
You get to your planning, outlining, and then start on your writing, then you suddenly start
receiving distractions from left to right, you cant concentrate because the colors of the walls are
too brilliant. Being a good writer you must be familiar with the setting that you put yourself in
when you are in the development of your writing. For myself I insist that the place that you set
yourself in when writing is essential to your outcome, because being in a quiet lounge will not
give you the same results on your writing than composing in the dinner table with your family
alongside. That is why I prefer to set myself alone in my room instead of composing at the
universitys library.
Through the passing of the years and experiences, I have developed a couple of patterns when I
get to my writing. Personally, I have always hated drawing maps of ideas, brainstorming, etc. I
like to get straight to the task and whatever comes, comes. It is a pattern of simply getting
through (with a great sense of mind of course) what the project is asking of me. When it comes

to being at the climax of the process (which for me is being at the body of the piece) I am
accustomed to write out what is in my head and if it simply doesnt make sense to the
composition I will most likely take it out in that same beat.
When I apply these habits to my writing I usually end up loving my composition. Creating
these patterns could have only brought me to where I am, a level in which writing seems easier
to me every time I get to a new composition. I can say that these habits positively gave form to
my composing process.
Teachers back in my elementary and secondary school grades were the main constructors of
my writing in general. Then again I hated following some of their teachings. A practice that
would get fumes out of my head would be going through a second draft. Nothing did I hate more
than having to generalize my ideas into a different form, only reducing the strength of the ideas
that bloomed primarily, in my opinion the freshest in a figure of speech. As I said earlier, I like to
get through at a first take, not because of time matters or laziness, but that is just my way of
processing my ideas into what seems to me a better product.
In comparison to how I described my writing process, everything is very much accurate when I
got to overview the recording of my writing process. Revising as I go, taking out parts that dont
seem to fit in the style that I was leading as well as adding small details here and there where
needed. Since the required length was not very demanding I managed to finish the draft in one
session, as I mentioned in my Portrait of a Writer I wouldve dedicated more time in a
composition of say 7 or more pages.
With blocking out or overflowing of ideas I always manage to get to the finish line, but then
again there is no perfect in this world. I have my own weaknesses as well as strengths. For

example, when concluding a piece I always overthink the finishing sentences, sometimes I use a
wrong combination of words which lead the sentence to another, and that sentence to another,
leaving me where? At an infinite road! Its a very unusual weakness I think, cause everyone
when writing a piece they just want to finish off the composition, me on the other hand I like to
close off on a good note. My strength on the other hand, is when dividing my ideas into
paragraphs. The body of a composition is the center of attention literally and physically, thats
where I love to show off (what looks to me) my talent at writing. Blasting concepts will not get
the composition anywhere, when you organize them is when you are really going to make your
piece pop.
An obvious way of setting me apart from other writers and composers is the way that they set
up their brainstorming from the beginning. Why? Because I simply dont brainstorm, I am a
freestyler. Professional writers, and not necessarily professional, always use strategies that
everyone is familiar with, I concentrate more on the idea of just letting my thoughts flow out
instead of restricting them from the beginning. I have been getting myself used to this, because
my final products have always been giving great competition to the rest of the writers who are in
my same classification, students in my same grade or same age for example.
I have never had the idea to observe myself when going through my writing process. Now that
I got the chance I can say that the way that I would see myself is more or like the way that I
actually get through my writing mechanism.