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Toca Lynch
Anthony Borrero
English 1101
1 October 2011
Portrait oI a Writer
As a writer I have noticed a Iew things about my writing practices that have become
routine processes. In general, I turn on soIt music and set the ambiance with a bottle oI cold
water and some sort oI snack with the lights in the room up as high as they can go. In some cases
I even put in headphones with no intention oI playing music at all. It is all about the comIort that
I have while composing a piece oI work to determine the quality. I do not take liberties to do any
pre-writing or brainstorming; I usually Iollow the guidelines provided in the assignments to
inspire the work that I am about to produce.
I tend to be more creative when writing my Iavorite genres. When it is not Iorced upon
me, I actually do enjoy creating stories. At night I have crazy dreams that develop into little
stories that I write down in the back oI my school notebooks so I don`t Iorget them. For example,
one night last week I dreamed that I was being harassed by a decepticon, yes, the evil robots
Irom the movie 'TransIormers. Anyway, over the course oI the week elaborated on the ideas
presented in the dream and composed a short story on the back oI my sociology notebook. It isn`t
the most conventional way oI writing, but I did it because I enjoyed doing it. I will sit down and
write senseless stories to pass time especially iI I am bored. My short stories range Irom
romance, to Iantasy; it all depends on what I remember Irom my dreams.
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When I draIt a story it usually takes me quite a while. I always get agitated by the
grammatical error notiIications and the stupid little red lines telling you how much oI an illiterate
twit you really are. I spend more time correcting sentence structures and I do actually creating
them. I also spend a lot oI time Iind words Ior my lack thereoI in a thesaurus. I do not like to
repeat the same words in my essays because they become redundant and just can`t stand it.
I think that my writing process that I use when writing my personal writing has
similarities to the writing process that I use when composing a piece Ior school. The only
diIIerence is the inspiration behind the two. When I write Ior school, I am always spoon-Ied an
idea that my teacher wants me to elaborate on. When I Iree-write I am inspired by my sub-
conscience imagination. Since I have been in English 1101 I have noticed a huge diIIerence in
my writing. BeIore, I couldn`t get enough inIormation to IulIill the writing length requirements, I
was still writing big narratives. It wasn`t until I learned to Iocus on little narratives that I actually
had something to 8, I think that I should start to pre-write more. It gives you more detail to
elaborate and room to create a complete story.
In cases prior my current 1101 English class, I never did any pre-writing. I have always
just opened my computer and typed my literary stream oI consciousness. I remember being in
grade school where they taught us to use a bubble-like diagram to make out our brainstorming
thoughts and ideas. I never pre-write or brainstorm because it tends to render itselI purposeless; I
always veer away Irom the topics that I had originally written down, so actually, my
brainstorming was counterproductive. In recent cases, I have been tricked into doing pre-writing.
In our English class, we are assigned 'little assignments that contribute to the Iinal project.
Very clever oI my teacher, I must admit. He must know that a lot oI students completely bypass
steps oI the writing process, which in the end cripples their Iinal product. Well played Mr. B.
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