Patrick Kelley

3/17/10

Rieman

Writing: It’s a Process

Writing is something that many find to be very difficult. It can be extremely frustrating

at times to figure out what to say?, how to say it?, and when to say it?. These questions only

bring up more questions such as, who’s the audience? What’s next? Is it enough information?

These are only some of the questions that we all come to as writers. In reading chapter one in

our “Writing Conventions” book this point came up as well. The book goes on to discuse how to

find the answers to these questions through several processes of writing as well as a concept of

the back and forth, interchangeable relationship between posing and composing.

There are many different ways to approach the writing process. Chapter one gives us

multiple ways and goes into details on each. First is the concept of using reading, writing,

thinking, and talking interchangeably as well as using each one to change, shape, or direct the

others. An example of what this means is when you are writing, you are thinking about what

you read and how they correlate to each other. When you’re reading, you’re thinking about

related personal experiences. As your reading your paper aloud (talking), you’re thinking about

the flow. These are only a couple of countless ways these can be interchanged. This is a process

I use every time I write. I am always trying to compare and contrast the multiple sources, ideas,

and experiences so that I can refine not only my points but my paper as a whole.

Another process is brainstorming. An activity that is expressed in chapter one for this

process is free-writing before starting your paper or when you get to an area where you are
“brain locked” and don’t know how to continue. When you free write without thinking of any

structure or main idea, you allow yourself to bring up points and ideas free of any guidelines. I

rarely use this process for a specific area of my paper. When I write, my entire paper is almost a

free write off the top of my head, which I then go back and revise.

There is also outlining. This method is the act of writing out your thoughts, ideas, and

observations as points or bullets. This is helpful because it lays out all your thoughts right in

front of you. Doing this, not only do you not forget things, but you also set yourself up to see

the big picture more clearly. This is my most helpful method in my writing process. I am able to

get all my thoughts and ideas out in front of me so that a can just play with them and toss them

around, rather than trying to form ideas and organize them as I go.

Last is what I believe to be one of the most important methods, collaborating. Here you

share and discuss ideas or opinions with peers, family, or professors. Our peer-workshops in

class are a perfect example of this process. Doing this gives someone not only a fresh pair of

eyes, but someone who thinks differently a chance to help improve your paper. You can also

gain a number of ideas from reading someone else’s paper that maybe you missed, didn’t

understand, or just had a different concept of. This is one of the greatest revision processes

because it not only can help to clean up your draft but also open up new doors to ideas and

concepts you never thought of before.

These writing processes and methods are all a part of this concept of

posingcomposing. Rather than the idea that writing is simply forming thought and ideas

then just writing those down in a linear fashion, it is more of a cycle or recurring pattern. As you
write you must always be posing ideas to compose as well as allowing what you compose to

create new propositions. This is true writing.

Writing can be difficult for even the most experienced writers. It is an ever growing and

adapting art form and should be treated as such. A point made by the authors of our book is

that many of us look at the process of writing in a progressive or developmental way so that

when we get “stuck” or find ourselves in a recursive process, it is seen as bad or an

inconvenience. An analogy used was, “associating highway detours as a nuisance, a waste of

our time and effort, because they delay and distract us from our predetermined destination”(Lu

& Horner 31). The reality is that in writing, these so called “detours” are just a part of the

process. As brought up by the idea of posing-composing, it is the constant revision and

rewriting that truly makes a paper great. Even the best writers in the world are forced to

constantly change and adapt their writing. So it is though the several writing processes,

posingcomposing, and reposingrecomposing that we can develop our ideas and

thoughts into a fluid and organized argument or statement.