Self-Assessment Freewriting

on ppt 26-28 

answer the questions. I add two advice with it.

The Writing Process

Planning, Drafting, and Revising

What inspires you to write?
Click link:
Beau Sia, Georgia Me, and Suheir

Hammad “First Taste.”
Def Poetry Jam Season 4, Episode 10
(2005).

This presentation outlines what Composition/Writing Studies research has discovered about teaching and learning writing effectively.
Over 40 years of research has shown some clear evidence of a “process”-based pedagogy, which means writing teachers should work with students to help them develop and strengthen their writing practice through planning (or pre-writing), drafting, and revising.
Here’s an analogy that helps clarify my approach to this course:

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A common misconception about writing in our society is that writing well requires some sort of “natural” ability. While there are some people who do seem to have some talent for writing, these folks still need to *work at it* like all of us. Writing well is simply a matter of planning well and lots of rewriting/revising.
This is our approach in this class: everyone can become a proficient or even thriving writer through regular practice, individualized feedback, and focused revision.

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Imagine you are on a sports team, let’s say Track & Field, and you are a sprinter. If you knew you wanted to win Saturday’s big Meet, what would your coach recommend to prepare you?
PRACTICE!
You couldn’t say to the coach “Oh I’m busy, I’ll just do all of my practice the night before.” You *know* that you practice every day because you are trying to build muscle memory- that you will practice so much that you know how to perform well without having to think about it-you just keep practicing until it feels “natural” to you.
This same principle can be applied to writing.

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While you are practicing, your team mates, coach, and anyone around who has an opinion (LOL) will give you feedback on your performance; you consider this advice, then make changes to your style and techniques that seem helpful to improve your “game.”
This kind of individualized feedback will hopefully help you improve your performance at the next Track Meet, and you keep practicing!
Same with writing- you practice by writing drafts, then soliciting feedback from knowledgeable peers. Eventually (but not always, especially on earlier drafts), I will provide feedback as well. You will write several drafts, refining your writing.

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Let’s say you finally get to “the Big Meet” and compete in the races you have been practicing so hard for. Let’s say you do really well in most of your races, but don’t do very well in, say, the Team Relay. Though you have improved your time and technique in some areas, you know you still need to practice in others. This is “revision,” just like with writing.
So you keep practicing.
In our writing class, you will keep practicing, too. even though you may not earn the “A” you want on a particular assignment, you keep working to improve for the assignment.
This is the overall philosophy and structure of this class- I am evaluating your process- where you have started from, what improvements you’ve made during our course, and how you plan to apply what you’ve learned in future writing assignments.

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With all this said, now to our first project:
The first assignment is a Writing Process Analysis, which asks you to reflect, narrate, describe, analyse, explain, quote, cite, apply, discuss, and plan for the future when it comes to your writing process and style. Begin by asking yourself: what has been my writing process so far? How do I plan to strengthen or improve my writing?
This first week, we engage in prewriting- reading advice from professional writers, brainstorming ideas, researching more advice, freewriting and discussing what we’ve found. It’s not even time to draft yet- it’s just planning time.
If you haven’t already read some advice from professional writers posted to Blackboard, do so now. Make sure to read Elbow’s “Freewriting” and Lamott’s “Shitty First Drafts” first, then skim the other readings available and focus on a few that seem to speak to you.

Writing Process Analysis Assignment
(this is just an outline- the actual assignment is located under “Assignments” in Blackboard)

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A fan asks Ava Duvernay about feeling like their writing is terrible, and she answers in way that helps outline the guiding principle for this course.
(need to”View presentation” in order to read the screenshot)

Advice from professional writers on writing process:

Ta-Nehisi Coates on Writing Process

Neil Gaiman on Writing on the Nerdist podcast

https://www.writingclasses.com/toolbox/tips-masters/jack-kerouac-30-cool-tips

What are the 3 steps of the writing process?
Prewriting: generating ideas and developing an essay plan
Drafting: Composing a rough draft
Revising: Editing and proofreading to produce the final draft

What is Planning /prewriting?
Prewriting is a stage in the writing process that is often overlooked, but it is one of the most important stages. This is the time before you actually begin your writing task- this is time for generating and organizing your ideas and making decisions about how to execute your writing project.
Do you often have trouble “getting started”? Prewriting helps writers generate, clarify, and organize ideas.
Prewriting can help you see your topic more clearly, help you practice writing, keep track of your ideas, and help you get started. We will begin all of our projects in this class with prewriting.
Do not criticize yourself and do not revise or scratch anything out during the planning/pre-writing phase- this is just “idea time” and space for you to practice bridging the gap from the swirling ideas in your head to making them come alive on the page.

Why Prewrite?
Invention of ideas
Writing is PRACTICE.
To help with “getting started”
Writing is a process.
Writing is thinking.

Why do writers procrastinate?
Read “Laziness Doesn’t Exist: Getting to the Root Causes of Procrastination.” (click link)

What are the 2 types of Prewriting Strategies?
Generative prewriting helps writers generate and clarify ideas- we will examine this first
Organizational prewriting helps writer organize those ideas

from Goldberg, from Writing Down the Bones

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What are some generative prewriting strategies?
Brainstorming
Freewriting
Looping
Reading Response
Journalistic Questions
Drawing/ Visualizing
Discussion

Brainstorming
Set a timer and commit to writing for the full amount of time
Make a list of every idea you can think of that relates to your topic- you don’t even need complete sentences yet
Don’t worry about grammar
Don’t stop writing. Don’t erase anything or try to “correct” your writing
Don’t over think it or worry– channel your worry into just getting words on the page

Check out these suggestions at the Purdue Online Writing Lab: https://urban.illinois.edu/images/site-content/resources/writing/the-writing-process-how-to-brainstorm

Freewriting
Set a timer and commit to writing for the full amount of time
Generate and write out all ideas you can think of, work to explain or describe in as much detail as you can-try to write out full sentences, but don’t stress if you are not “there” yet
Even if it doesn’t seem to relate, write it down
Keep your hand moving—don’t stop writing—don’t pause to re-read what you just wrote. Don’t erase anything or try to “correct” your writing.
Don’t worry about grammar
If you feel anxiety, just keep writing
Don’t overthink it or worry– channel your anxiety into just getting words on the page
See Peter Elbow, “Freewriting” under “Writing Advice”

Journalistic Questions:
Use these questions to help you describe your writing topic and generate ideas:
Who is involved?
What happens/happened?
Where does/did it happen?
When does/did it happen?
Why does/did it happen?
How does/did it happen?
WOW! or “So What?”

Reading Response
Often, the writing we do involves citing and analyzing other texts.
Pick out a quote that strikes you as interesting, shocking, controversial, or confirms your experience.
Write the quote out as accurately as possible, and include the page number so you can find it easily again.
FIRST write what you believe the author is arguing in your own words. It is important to explain your interpretation of the author’s intention.
SECOND respond to the author’s argument intelligently. Write about why you agree or disagree. Write about any evidence you know of that either supports the author’s assertions or refutes them.
Repeat the process.

Drawing/Visualizing
Draw a picture of your essay topic
You can draw a scene, a cartoon, charts, graphs, or a storyboard
Look back at your drawing and write out what ideas you just visually represented

Discussion
Talk over your ideas with a classmate, a tutor, or a friend/family member
Ask questions
Take notes as your conversation helps you generate ideas

So now we practice pre-writing. Log into your CSUSB email account and go to Google Drive in the upper right-hand corner, create a new document and name it “Prewriting YOUR LAST NAME” (example: “Prewriting Asbell”)

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To Begin:

Read through the rest of this presentation, make sure you have the advice from professional writers handy, then return back to this slide.
Use a timer, but always remember you should keep writing if the timer goes off and you have more to say.
For slide 27 (the next slide), spend about 3-5 minutes freewriting on each question.
REMEMBER: Prewriting is just PRACTICE. Let loose a little just write.

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*Practicing Prewriting:
Self-Assessment Freewriting: Be Honest!
How are you feeling right now? What’s going on with you?
What kinds of writing do you do?
What is your writing process? Any special rituals or needs when you write?
What is the most successful you have been with writing? What did you do to ensure your success?
What do you like about writing?
What do you dislike about writing?
Have you had a painful experience with writing?
How do you come up with your ideas for writing? How do you decide what to write?
How do you revise and proofread your work?
What are your strengths and weaknesses with writing?

*Practicing Prewriting:
Freewriting: Exploring the advice that is meaningful to your process (from “Writing Advice” on Blackboard)
Select the most meaningful advice you have read so far. Set a timer for 5 minutes and freewrite, explaining what the advice is and why you found it meaningful. If your timer goes off and you have more to say, feel free to reset the timer and keep going.
Select another piece of advice and repeat.
Repeat for at least 5 pieces of advice (7 total). Feel free to freewrite or try other kinds of prewriting (Reading Response, Drawing, Journalistic Questions).
All of this prewriting what you are turning in first-you are not writing an essay yet, so don’t worry about form– just get some words down.

What are the 2 types of Prewriting Strategies?
Generative prewriting helps writers generate and clarify ideas
Organizational prewriting helps writer organize those ideas

Organizational prewriting helps writer organize ideas
Some of us are great at organizing, others of us need to work hard at this. I have never had trouble generating ideas, but organizing those ideas into a coherent project has been a learning process for me.
I used to hate those Roman Numeral Formal Outlines, now I realize how useful they can be. I realized I hated outlines because *organizing is hard!*– it can be one of the toughest parts of writing.
But when you practice, you get better. You…

…get to a new level of understanding writing and your writing process! It starts to affect other parts of your writing. For example, I started to get better at writing a focused thesis once I realized how it connected to my organization. I also started writing better Introductions and Conclusions.

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What are some organizational prewriting strategies?
Informal Outline
Formal Outline
Block Outline
Cluster/Concept Map
Flowchart
Paragraph Block
Reverse Outlining (See “Drafting”)

Informal Outline
Friendship: What’s Important to Me
Loyalty: Honesty, trust. We got each others’ backs
Fun: We have similar interests, we think the same activities are fun
Intellectual debate: I like my friends to be smart so we can have philosophical conversations and intellectual debates. Logical, educated reasoning
Perspective: My friends must have open minds, be respectful, progressive thinkers, and intellectually curious.
Social: I like people who are outgoing and make friends easily. I like to laugh and love clever people

Formal Outline
Friendship: What’s Important to Me
Loyalty: Friends I can trust
A. I want friends I can be honest with
1. I had a friend who betrayed my trust
2. I have many friends who I can trust with anything
B. I want friends who have my best interest at heart
1. I have friends who got my back
2. I got their backs too!
II. Fun: Friends who have similar ideas of what is fun
A. I want friends I can go out with
1. Hanging out
2. Going to concerts, going to parties
B. I want friends I can share my interests with
1. Art, music, culture
2. Politics and knowledge
III. Intellectual Debate: Friends who are smart
A. I don’t like hanging out with people who act ignorant or discriminatory
1. I like people who listen and are respectful to other perspectives
2. People who pretend like they’re stupid are boring
B. I love having deep conversations and debates with my friends
1. I like people who can debate an issue intellectually and not get upset just because I don’t agree with them
2. I like people who challenge me to think deeper and question my assumptions

Block Outline

Cluster

Flowchart

Paragraph Block
I love having deep conversations and debates with my friends, and I tend to hang out with people who challenge me to think deeply.
I like people who can debate an issue intellectually and not get upset just because I don’t agree with them
People who think “outside the box” and don’t just parrot what they hear from other people have my ultimate respect.
People who use logical reasoning and provide credible evidence hold more credibility with me.

What are the 3 steps of the writing process?
Prewriting: Generating ideas and developing an essay plan
Drafting: Composing a rough draft
Revising: Editing and proofreading to produce the final draft

What is drafting?
Use your prewriting plan to write your rough draft, but don’t hesitate to make changes to that plan if you need to.
Don’t worry about grammar yet!!! This comes with revision, not as you are writing your first “shitty” draft
Make sure you are writing under good conditions and you have all of the materials you’ll need

Sometimes it feels like if you write complicated sentences with fancy vocabulary, you are writing well.
The opposite is actually true: YOU ARE AIMING FOR CLARITY!
Clear writing is what all readers want, right?

The drafting stage is dependant on what medium and genre you are writing in. For example, a poem has different genre requirements than, say, writing a lab report in Biology class.
The first assignment asks you to analyze and reflect on your writing process, discussing your strengths and weakness and goals for improvement (see Writing Process Analysis Assignment under “Assignments” on Blackboard).
So to draft this, you need to think about what an essay does or “looks like.”

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Essay Genre Requirements
Introduction- What does the reader need to know at the beginning of your essay? How do you “introduce” your subject? What is your point, argument, or thesis?
Body Paragraphs- Discusses each main point with evidence and examples for each. Design each paragraph to clearly support the overall “point” for your paper.
Conclusion- Significance- Who cares? Why is this topic important to consider?

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Reverse Outlining
You can organize and reorganize at any point in the process. I know it sounds scary and labor intensive to re-organize once you’ve put so much work into your draft, but sometimes the best gift you can give yourself is to recognize when something isn’t working and change your plan. To help you organize/re-organize, work to produce an outline of a draft you have already written.
This brings us to…

Reverse Outlining

What are the 3 steps of the writing process?
Prewriting: Generating ideas and developing an essay plan
Drafting: Composing a rough draft
Revising: Revising and proofreading to produce the final draft

Two Steps of Revision
HOCS: Higher Order Concerns -Revision
LOCS: Lower Order Concerns -Proofread

Higher Order Concerns

Re-vision!
Looking at your draft in new ways to help give you ideas about how to revise.
Content, requirements of the assignment
Context (the writing situation, purpose)
Scope (length)
Organization-order of ideas
Development- pattern of elaboration
Coherence- does this make sense?
Use of Evidence-
Audience Expectations-
Genre & Style-
<--Look for “the BIG stuff” first! Higher Order Concerns --Use of Evidence- What kind of evidence does this genre require? Have you integrated your evidence well? --Audience Expectations- Who is the audience for this text? What do they expect or need from this text? --Genre & Style- Is the writing adhering to effective or expected form? --What Content must be included? What are the requirements of the assignment? --What is the Context? What is the writing situation, or purpose of the writing being done? --What is the Scope? The length or word/page minimums --Organization- 1. what is the best order to present your ideas? What should you discuss first, second, etc.? 2. How do you “chunk” information into paragraphs? --Development- how do you move from one idea to another? How do you build off of previous points? --Coherence- does this all “make sense”? Is the text unified (no tangents or breaks in logic)? Why Revise for Higher Order Concerns First? Higher Order Concerns Have you ever spent a lot of time trying to revise a sentence so it “sounds right” or seems grammatical? And then once you read the sentence, it doesn’t even say what you wanted it to say in the first place? What about spending a bunch of time on a paragraph, only to realize that the paragraph is a tangent and you need to erase it anyway? This is why we revise for the “BIG STUFF” first. It saves time and energy and helps you focus on the important aspects of revision. HOCS Strategy: Glossing Glossing is a great strategy to revise for higher order concerns (it is, essentially, reverse outlining with focused revision). Underline the thesis Read one body paragraph. In 3-4 words, describe the main idea of that paragraph Write these words in the margin next to the paragraph Read each sentence again, crossing out any ideas that don’t belong and indicating where you need more elaboration/explanation Make sure you make clear connections between the main point of the body paragraph and your thesis Repeat for each body paragraph Lower Order Concerns Conventions of grammar, syntax, mechanics, such as: Word choice Sentence structure Capitalization Spelling, Typos Format and documentation Or “Editing” or “Proofreading.” FINALLY, AT THE END OF OUR PROCESS, we begin to look at sentence level style. Why Do We Proofread for Lower Order Concerns Last? Did you know that most research shows that students correct their own grammar and spelling issues as they revise for Higher Order Concerns (HOCs) first? This is because HOCs ask you to organize and clarify your ideas in relation to each other, which helps you figure out what you need to articulate and clarify. Have you ever realized that an essay can be totally grammatically “correct” but still exhibit lousy writing? An essay can “look” perfect but not meet the requirements of the assignment? Why Do We Proofread for Lower Order Concerns Last? Did you know that student usually exhibit *patterns* of error, so these patterns are easily identified and improved upon? Did you know that overly focusing on grammar can actually inhibit your dynamic and personal writing style? Did you know that many of your teachers and professors who emphasize grammar “correctness” are often not technically “correct” in their preferences or expectations? Grammar is important, but not right now. Keep focusing on HOCs while keeping a gentle eye on your sentence structure. More later on this 🙂 Why Do We Proofread for Lower Order Concerns Last? One last note: because of my extensive training in composition/writing pedagogy, I don’t judge anyone’s *value* or writing talents based on their grammar, vocabulary, or linguistic elements like “accent.” I have been teaching writing for 15 years. There is no way your grammar is going to shock, anger, or sadden me. I am not interested in “punishing” your grammar mistakes. I don’t make fun of people’s grammar, ever. I am not here to judge your grammar, I am here to help you develop as a writer. We will work with grammar, but in ways that make sense for strengthening our process. LOCS Strategy: Read Aloud I know it’s scary, but reading your work out loud one of the most effective ways to pick up sentence-level issues and revise them! Pick a partner Read your essay out loud to him or her, stopping to correct any issues with clarity that you find -OR-Read your essay out loud and backwards, starting with the last line of the conclusion. Take turns! Here’s a quick look at some questions from the Writing Process Analysis Assignment: Self-Assessment and Writing Goals. How, when, and why do you write? What is your writing process? What do you do very well (strengths), and what do you need to keep working on (weaknesses)? Compare the advice from the course readings that resonated with you/your writing process. What advice do you plan to put into practice this quarter with your writing? How do you plan to adapt this advice to your needs as a writer? Most importantly, how will taking this advice improve your writing? What effects could this advice have on your long-term writing goals? What aspects of your process will change or stay the same? What aspects of your writing would you most like feedback on? This is just a sneak peek. For more information, see the assignment handout under “Assignments” on Blackboard. ‹#›

FREEWRITING by Peter Elbow

The most effective way I know to improve your writing is to do freewriting exercises regularly. At least three times a week.
They are sometimes called “automatic writing,” “babbling,” or “jabbering” exercises. The idea is simply to write for ten minutes
(later on, perhaps fifteen or twenty). Don’t stop for anything. Go quickly without rushing. Never stop to look back, to cross
something out, to wonder how to spell something, to wonder what word or thought to use, or to think about what you are doing. If
you can’t think of a word or a spelling, just use a squiggle or else write “I can’t think what to say, I can’t think what to say” as many
times as you want; or repeat the last word you wrote over and over again; or anything else. The only requirement is that you never
stop.

What happens to a freewriting exercise is important. It must be a piece of writing which, even if someone else reads it,
doesn’t send any ripples back to you. It is like writing something and putting it in a bottle in the sea. Freewritings help you by
providing no feedback at all. When I assign one, I invite the writer to let me read it, but also tell him to keep it if he prefers.

Here is an example of a fairly coherent exercise (sometimes they are very incoherent, which is fine):
I think I’ll write what’s on my mind, but the only thing on my mind right now is what to write for ten minutes. I’ve
never done this before and I’m not prepared in any way–the sky is cloudy today, how’s that? now I’m afraid I won’t be
able to think of what to write when I get to the end of the sentence–well, here I am at the end of the sentence–here I am
again, again, again, again, at least I’m still writing–Now I ask is there some reason to be happy that I’m still writing–ah
yes! Here comes the question again–What am I getting out of this? What point is there in it? It’s almost obscene to
always ask it but I seem to question everything that way and I was gonna say something else pertaining to that but I got
so busy writing down the first part that I forgot what I was leading into. This is kind of fun oh don’t stop writing–cars
and trucks speeding by somewhere out the window, pens clittering across peoples’ papers. The sky is still cloudy–is it
symbolic that I should be mentioning it? Huh? I dunno. Maybe I should try colors, blue, red, dirty words–wait a
minute–no can’t do that, orange, yellow, arm tired, green pink violet magenta lavender red brown black green–now I
can’t think of any more colors–just about done–relief? maybe.

Freewriting may seem crazy but actually it makes simple sense. Think of the difference between speaking and writing.
Writing has the advantage of permitting more editing. But that’s its downfall too. Almost everyone interposes a massive and
complicated series of editings between the time the words start to be born into consciousness and when they finally come of the end
of the pencil or typewriter onto the page. This is partly because schooling makes us obsessed with the “mistakes” we make in
writing. Many people constantly think about spelling and grammar as they try to write. I am always thinking about the
awkwardness, wordiness, and general mushiness of my natural verbal product as I try to write down words.

But it’s not just “mistakes” or “bad writing” we edit as we write. We also edit unacceptable thoughts and feelings, as we do
in speaking. In writing there is more time to do it so the editing is heavier: when speaking, there’s someone right there waiting for a
reply and he’ll get bored or think we’re crazy if we don’t come out with something. Most of the time in speaking, we settle for the
catch-as-catch-can way in which the words tumble out. In writing, however, there’s a chance to try to get them right. But the
opportunity to get them right is a terrible burden: you can work for two hours trying to get a paragraph “right” and discover it’s not
right at all. And then give up.

Editing, in itself, is not the problem. Editing is usually necessary if we want to end up with something satisfactory. The
problem is that editing goes on at the same time as producing. . . .

The main thing about freewriting is that it is nonediting. It is an exercise in bringing together the process of producing
words and putting them down on the page. Practiced regularly, it undoes the ingrained habit of editing at the same time you are
trying to produce. It will make writing less blocked because words will come more easily. . . .

Next time you write, notice how often you stop yourself from writing down something you were going to write down. Or
else cross it out after it’s been written. “Naturally,” you say, “it wasn’t any good.” But think for a moment about the occasions when
you spoke well. Seldom was it because you first got the beginning right. Usually it was a matter of a halting or even a garbled
beginning, but you kept going and your speech finally became coherent and even powerful. There is a lesson here for writing:
trying to get the beginning just right is a formula for failure–and probably a secret tactic to make yourself give up writing. Make
some words, whatever they are, and then grab hold of that line and reel in as hard as you can. Afterwards you can throw away
lousy beginnings and make new ones. This is the quickest way to get into good writing.

The habit of compulsive, premature editing doesn’t just make writing hard. It also makes writing dead. Your voice is
damped out by all the interruptions, changes, and hesitations between the consciousness and the page. In your natural way of
producing words there is a sound, a texture, a rhythm–a voice–which is the main source of power in your writing. I don’t know
how it works, but this voice is the force that will make a reader listen to you. Maybe you don’t like your voice; maybe people have
made fun of it. But it’s the only voice you’ve got. It’s your only source of power. You better get back into it, no matter what you
think of it. If you keep writing in it, it may change into something you like better. But if you abandon it, you’ll likely never have a
voice and never be heard.
Taken from Writing Without Teachers. New York: Oxford UP, 1973, 1-7.

Center for Learning, Teaching, Communication, and Research
Draper 106 CPO 2149 Ext. 3404

www.berea.edu/cec/cec.html

1

Shitty First Drafts
Anne Lamott from Bird by Bird

Born in San Francisco in 1954, Anne Lamott is a graduate of Goucher College
in Baltimore and is the author of six novels, including Rosie (1983), Crooked Little
Heart (1997), All New People (2000), and Blue Shoes (2002). She has also been the
food reviewer for California magazine, a book reviewer for Mademoiselle, and a
regular contributor to Salon’s “Mothers Who Think.” Her nonfiction books include
Operating Instructions: A Journal of My Son’s First Year (1993), in which she
describes her adventures as a single parent, and Tender Mercies: Some Thoughts on
Faith (1999), in which she charts her journey toward faith in God.

In the following selection, taken from Lamott’s popular book about writing,
Bird by Bird (1994), she argues for the need to let go and write those “shitty first
drafts” that lead to clarity and sometimes brilliance in our second and third drafts.

1 Now, practically even better news than that of short assignments is the idea of
shitty first drafts. All good writers write them. This is how they end up with good
second drafts and terrific third drafts. People tend to look at successful writers who
are getting their books published and maybe even doing well financially and think
that they sit down at their desks every morning feeling like a million dollars, feeling
great about who they are and how much talent they have and what a great story they
have to tell; that they take in a few deep breaths, push back their sleeves, roll their
necks a few times to get all the cricks out, and dive in, typing fully formed passages
as fast as a court reporter. But this is just the fantasy of the uninitiated. I know some
very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and have made a great deal
of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic and
confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. All right, one of them does, but
we do not like her very much. We do not think that she has a rich inner life or that
God likes her or can even stand her. (Although when I mentioned this to my priest
friend Tom, he said you can safely assume you’ve created God in your own image
when it turns out that God hates all the same people you do.)

2 Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it. Nor do
they go about their business feeling dewy and thrilled. They do not type a few stiff
warm-up sentences and then find themselves bounding along like huskies across the
snow. One writer I know tells me that he sits down every morning and says to
himself nicely, “It’s not like you don’t have a choice, because you do — you can
either type, or kill yourself.” We all often feel like we are pulling teeth, even those
writers whose prose ends up being the most natural and fluid. The right words and
sentences just do not come pouring out like ticker tape most of the time. Now,
Muriel Spark is said to have felt that she was taking dictation from God every
morning — sitting there, one supposes, plugged into a Dictaphone, typing away,
humming. But this is a very hostile and aggressive position. One might hope for bad
things to rain down on a person like this.

3 For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the
only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.

4 The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp
all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it
later. You just let this childlike part of you channel whatever voices and visions
come through and onto the page. If one of the characters wants to say, “Well, so
what, Mr. Poopy Pants?,” you let her. No one is going to see it. If the kid wants to
get into really sentimental, weepy, emotional territory, you let him. Just get it all
down on paper because there may be something great in those six crazy pages that
you would never have gotten to by more rational, grown-up means. There may be
something in the very last line of the very last paragraph on page six that you just
love, that is so beautiful or wild that you now know what you’re supposed to be
writing about, more or less, or in what direction you might go — but there was no
way to get to this without first getting through the first five and a half pages.

5 I used to write food reviews for California magazine before it folded. (My writing
food reviews had nothing to do with the magazine folding, although every single
review did cause a couple of canceled subscriptions. Some readers took umbrage at
my comparing mounds of vegetable puree with various ex-presidents’ brains.) These
reviews always took two days to write. First I’d go to a restaurant several times with
a few opinionated, articulate friends in tow. I’d sit there writing down everything
anyone said that was at all interesting or funny. Then on the following Monday I’d
sit down at my desk with my notes and try to write the review. Even after I’d been
doing this for years, panic would set in. I’d try to write a lead, but instead I’d write a
couple of dreadful sentences, XX them out, try again, XX everything out, and then
feel despair and worry settle on my chest like an x-ray apron. It’s over, I’d think
calmly. I’m not going to be able to get the magic to work this time. I’m ruined. I’m
through. I’m toast. Maybe, I’d think, I can get my old job back as a clerk-typist. But
probably not. I’d get up and study my teeth in the mirror for a while. Then I’d stop,
remember to breathe, make a few phone calls, hit the kitchen and chow down.
Eventually I’d go back and sit down at my desk, and sigh for the next ten minutes.
Finally I would pick up my one-inch picture frame, stare into it as if for the answer,
and every time the answer would come: all I had to do was to write a really shitty
first draft of, say, the opening paragraph. And no one was going to see it.

6 So I’d start writing without reining myself in. It was almost just typing, just
making my fingers move. And the writing would be terrible. I’d write a lead
paragraph that was a whole page, even though the entire review could only be three
pages long, and then I’d start writing up descriptions of the food, one dish at a time,
bird by bird, and the critics would be sitting on my shoulders, commenting like
cartoon characters. They’d be pretending to snore, or rolling their eyes at my
overwrought descriptions, no matter how hard I tried to tone those descriptions
down, no matter how conscious I was of what a friend said to me gently in my early
days of restaurant reviewing. “Annie,” she said, “it is just a piece of chicken. It is just
a bit of cake.”

7 But because by then I had been writing for so long, I would eventually let myself
trust the process — sort of, more or less. I’d write a first draft that was maybe twice
as long as it should be, with a self-indulgent and boring beginning, stupefying
descriptions of the meal, lots of quotes from my black-humored friends that made
them sound more like the Manson girls than food lovers, and no ending to speak of.

2

The whole thing would be so long and incoherent and hideous that for the rest of the
day I’d obsess about getting creamed by a car before I could write a decent second
draft. I’d worry that people would read what I’d written and believe that the accident
had really been a suicide, that I had panicked because my talent was waning and my
mind was shot.

8 The next day, I’d sit down, go through it all with a colored pen, take out
everything I possibly could, find a new lead somewhere on the second page, figure
out a kicky place to end it, and then write a second draft. It always turned out fine,
sometimes even funny and weird and helpful. I’d go over it one more time and mail
it in.

9 Then, a month later, when it was time for another review, the whole process
would start again, complete with the fears that people would find my first draft
before I could rewrite it.

10 Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start
somewhere. Start by getting something — anything — down on paper. A friend of
mine says that the first draft is the down draft — you just get it down. The second
draft is the up draft — you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more
accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to
see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy.

1. Lamott says that the perceptions most people have of how writers work is
different from the reality of the work itself. She refers to this in paragraph 1 as
“the fantasy of the uninitiated.” What does she mean?

2. In paragraph 7 Lamott refers to a time when, through experience, she
“eventually let [herself] trust the process – sort of, more or less.” She is
referring to the writing process, of course, but why “more or less”? Do you
think that her wariness is personal, or is she speaking for all writers in this
regard? Explain.

3. From what Lamott has to say, is writing a first draft more about the product or
the process? Do you agree in regard to your own first drafts? Explain.

Lamott, Anne. “Shitty First Drafts.” Language Awareness: Readings for College

Writers. Ed. by Paul Eschholz, Alfred Rosa, and Virginia Clark. 9th ed.
Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2005: 93-96.

*Practicing Prewriting:
Self-Assessment Freewriting: Be Honest!

You have read through the Writing Process .ppt, and read advice from professional writers,
so now we practice pre-writing. Log into your CSUSB email account and go to Google
Drive in the upper right-hand corner, create a new document and name it “Prewriting YOUR
LAST NAME” (example: “Prewriting Asbell”)

Read through the “Writing Process” presentation, and make sure you have the advice from
professional writers handy.
Use a timer, but always remember you should keep writing if the timer goes off and you
have more to say.
Spend about 3-5 minutes freewriting on each question.
REMEMBER: Prewriting is just PRACTICE. Let loose a little just write.

How are you feeling right now? What’s going on with you?
What kinds of writing do you do?
What is your writing process? Any special rituals or needs when you write?
What is the most successful you have been with writing? What did you do to ensure your
success?
What do you like about writing?
What do you dislike about writing?
Have you had a painful experience with writing?
How do you come up with your ideas for writing? How do you decide what to write?

How do you revise and proofread your work?
What are your strengths and weaknesses with writing?

Exploring the advice that is meaningful to your process (from “Writing Advice” on
Blackboard):

●Select the most meaningful advice you have read so far. Set a timer for 5 minutes and
freewrite, explaining what the advice is and why you found it meaningful. If your timer goes
off and you have more to say, feel free to reset the timer and keep going.
●Select another piece of advice and repeat.
●Repeat for at least 5 pieces of advice (7 total). Feel free to freewrite or try other kinds of
prewriting (Reading Response, Drawing, Journalistic Questions).
●​All of this prewriting what you are turning in first-you are not writing an essay yet, so don’t
worry about form– just get some words down.

Submit your prewriting to Blackboard (turnitin plugin) by clicking on the next page of the
module. You should be able to submit your Google Doc a few different ways. If you are
having trouble submitting, try a different Internet Browser or contact technical support.