The Writing Process

I consider my writing process to be relatively structured, but there are messy areas

nonetheless, whether I like to admit it or not. The two roads my writing process can follow are

polar opposites, and there’s no way of telling beforehand which route my writing will take on

any particular day. I just have to start writing, cross my fingers, and hope for the best.

To try and make writing as painless as possible, there are a couple strategies I use to

expedite the process. I work best when I have a very slight distraction in the background,

whether it be a youtube video, a podcast, or something of that nature. It keeps my brain active

while I write, or prepare to write, so it doesn’t become bored and unfocused. When I start

writing, I usually jot down a few bullet points first; just some key points to keep me from getting

off track and to help me zero in on what I need to put on paper. From there I start my intro. If I’m

being honest, I typically get stuck here for a few minutes, trying to figure out the best way to

open my paper. After about five minutes of staring into space, I’m typically able to get down a

half-decent intro that I’ll probably change later, and from there, it’s usually smooth sailing. I

enjoy writing on a good day, where the words just flow out of my fingers over the keyboard, and

the ideas effortlessly compound on one another until I have a coherent string of sentences. This is

on a good day, though.

On bad days, writing can be absolutely agonizing. When nothing seems to come to mind,

or my words feel empty and lack substance, these are the worst days. I stare at my computer for

what feels like hours, trying to make myself just think. It can’t be that hard to just write, right?

But it is. Oftentimes when my brain isn’t cooperating, I make myself give up for awhile, saying

 I’ll come back to it later, and this is how my procrastination starts. Typically how this ends up

going for me is I’ll happily forget about said paper, go on with my day, and I won’t remember it

until it’s less than 24 hours before the due date, and that’s when my “panic-writing” will kick in.

As unhealthy as this cycle is, it is extremely effective in eliminating the mental block that

occasionally presents itself to me while writing.

Once I’m done getting the initial ideas down and the meat of the essay, I then begin to

nitpick (if I haven’t already, halfway through the essay; I try not to let myself do this, but it is so

tempting to fix everything as I write it.) I comb through every sentence, every pause, every

syllable to ensure that everything flows correctly, and that someone reading it wouldn’t get

confused at my wording, my sentence structure, etc. Once I’m finally satisfied with this, I give it

one more read-through, and then change the font, spacing, or whatever I feel I need to do to give

the paper a nice look (if there aren’t academic guidelines to these things, of course.) And with

that, the paper is finished. I can relax, and be proud of my work. My writing process is indeed

very fifty-fifty, and the different paths it can take are extremes. Regardless, it gets the job done.

Most of the time.