Smith 1 Anthony Smith Steffen Guenzel ENC 1101-011 10/29/13

Writing: Seeing Everything Before It Happens Becoming skilled at any craft can be a very difficult task. Learning how I write is one of the most complex things that I have been experiencing since I began writing essays at the age of 8. There are so many aspects of writing to be satisfied just to make my paper appealing for others to read because there is no such thing as the perfect paper. I always find myself spending a number of hours up to a couple days thinking about what Im going to write, followed up with an outline of how I format my paper, and finally bring it all together to begin writing. Knowing your writing style or technique and being able to convince the audience to agree with your claims is the key to writing a good paper. To me, my writing style can easily be compared with playing the sport I love, football. Very much like my years of experience of playing football, it is not about seeing how fast you can get through a drill or finish the paper, but rather the method that you use to complete it in a swift manner. If I rush through a drill in practice, I become more reckless and void my own ability to enhance the skill that I am trying to improve. If I rush through the planning practices in writing, my paper will not turn out as well as I would like it to. Writing is a process of steps in which the writer must think or hypothesize about what they are going to write, Move into position to begin organizing or outlining what they would like to go into detail with, and begin to take action through writing with information I already know as well as information I have gathered.

Smith 2 Planning to me is the most important aspect of writing. If you do not know what you want to write about in specific detail, how do you expect the reader to understand what you write? Planning for me takes up the majority of my time in the process of writing. For example, Ive spent a little more than a week trying to figure out how I can describe my writing process. In comparison to football, planning is like watching film on your opponent in the next football game. Watching film consists of contributing 1 hour of every day, Saturday to Thursday, of analyzing every little detail about your opponent and taking notes to form a game plan for an advantage. I like to choose a quiet and peaceful place when planning. Inside my room, I am surrounded by silence and also any materials I need to complete my paper such as a computer, a printer, and paper. The library with its private and rentable rooms also can provide me with peers who can review my notes prior to writing and the same resources, but it may not be as quiet as my own room. I need a clear mind and silence to successfully plan my paper. My isolated room with the door shut or a library where are two suitable places I have found that can help me concentrate on the task at hand, take notes, and figure out how I will put my notes to use. In Stephen Kings article What Writing Is, he mentions telepathy being a meeting of the minds (307) meaning even though we are looking at or discussing the same information given to us, we may still have our own outside opinions or factors that lets us see the same thing differently from others known as rough comparison, but still maintain the main base of information given throughout the process. I will attempt to describe the size of a football field to someone who has not ever seen one or walked on one using Stephen Kings metaphor of telepathy to give you a rough comparison of measurement. From each white sideline to sideline, a football field is 80 yards. From the painted end zone to end zone is 100 yards of green grass.

Smith 3 Since there are usually two cornerbacks on the field splitting the width in half, I am responsible for covering the 40 yards in width and 100 yards in length in the green, grassy portion of the field without letting the receiver catch the ball. When Im on the football field, usually playing cornerback, my objective is to cover the opposing receiver which is considered the second hardest position to play due to the amount of space you have to cover. How is it possible to cover such a large area when the receiver has so many options? Planning. When I do my planning in the film room, I pick up tendencies of the receiver based on the formation, how he lines up, and where he lines up based on the portion of the field my opponent is on. Using the information that I have learned prior to the game, I can plan my next move accordingly to be a step ahead before the ball is even snapped to start the play to prevent disaster. The same goes for writing, after planning using information and ideas a few days or hours in advance. It is now time to make your next move and get into position to execute the task at hand by outlining. There are many different styles and techniques to use to outline steps to take during the writing process. Some writers may use web based outlines, bullet point outlines, but I prefer the traditional topic and subtopic based outline method. When creating my outline, I break the broad, overall claim down into topics and go into further detail with subtopics while focusing on the main claim. I use my outline as a guide to organize what I will write about next from paragraph to paragraph following the basic fundamentals using an introductory paragraph with a thesis, body paragraphs to discuss my claim, and a conclusion to finalize my thoughts on the claim. Like an outline, I start with a broad topic and break it down into pieces. I usually use my thoughts during a live play in the game of football as a metaphor to describe the outlining process. Now that I have planned out every possibility of what my opponent can do next, I can

Smith 4 create a metaphor linking my outline to football. By using an outline of gathered information from planning, I can use what I learned from watching film to put myself into position using fundamentals to stay a step ahead. Whether it is playing my opponent from the inside out, outside in, aggressive press coverage to disrupt the receiver, or soft coverage to be conservative and mirror the receiver all depends on what I have learned or already know from the planning process. After outlining the information Ive been presented with, it is time to make the play and begin writing. Now that I have all of my ideas and what I will discuss in each paragraph in front of me, all that is left to be done is to make it happen and put it down on paper. It usually only takes me about 3 hours in total to actually write thoughts and ideas from my outline down on paper because everything has already been formatted. Still, I find myself making small adjustments to my essay while Im in the middle of writing because I may not feel comfortable with some of the claims I made earlier after the second or third time reading them. While Im writing an essay, I make sure that I block out all sounds to concentrate on my piece and nothing more. I try to begin by catching the readers attention, provide discourse on the claim I am making, and finally finish with a strong conclusion. In relation to the game of football, making the play is not much different than my writing process for completing an essay. I have now analyzed the receivers tendencies and made the adjustments to put myself in a good position. The only thing left to do is make, and finish the play. This is why I spend so much time on planning, if you know your opponent inside out, you can see the entire play before it happens. I recall playing an opponent my sophomore year in high school and I spent at least an hour on watching film for a week. When the game came around, the first time they threw the football to my side, I was able to jump in front of the receiver and intercept the ball. Nothing

Smith 5 other than good results can come of planning for a large amount of time before the time to present is due. After intercepting the readers attention and finishing the body paragraph, I finish the play with a strong conclusion. The final step in my writing process is wrapping it all up with a strong conclusion to finalize and take a stand on the claims I have made in the body paragraphs. In my conclusion I like to restate my thoughts and ideas on a topic and give brief reasoning on why the reader should agree or consider my claim as well. A comparison between wrapping it all up with a strong conclusion can be my pregame warm up. During the pregame warm up, we go over everything we have learned about our opponent and our own specific duties. The pregame warm up is not just for stretching. It also serves as a summary or a review of our gathered information just like a conclusion in writing. In comparison with football, the conclusion is being able to finish the play and making a statement, after planning, getting into position, and making the play; it is now time to finish the play and score a touchdown against your opponent to make a statement by adding points to the scoreboard. As you can see, I was able to walk the average reader though only one play of football that can have many different possibilities and also my preferred way of how to write a paper even though there are many different ways to go about writing a paper as well. The bottom line is that each activity anyone participates in is a process that you cannot begin right away and expect to do well. Writing and the game of football or any sport of that matter takes practice through intense planning, outlining to organize your ideas, and ultimately being able to bring everything together and present your ideas as best as you can to help others understand why you chose to make the claim. In order to do any of this, it all begins with planning and seeing it before it actually happens.

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Work Cited King, Stephen. "What Writing Is." On Writing: A Memoir of the craft. New York: Pocket Books, 2000. 95-99. Print. Writing About Writing: A College Reader. Ed Wardle, Elizabeth, and Doug Downs.