My mother Monica discovered I was struggling in school with my writing. So, she invited her friends from college years ago over for a barbeque. I came down from my room with an empty stomach to find three strangers I had never met before. As soon as she saw me, my mother said “Jim, I want you to meet some very talented writers who happen to be my friends. This is Don Murray, Maria Popova, and Anne Lamott.” They greeted me and I did the same. Following the greeting we hopped into the meal. After cooling down my mouth with an ice cold water due to the hot wings, I asked curiously “so what brings you fine people to a Gibbons barbeque?” Don replied “Well, you Jim. Your mother contacted us saying you need some help with your writing. So we’re here to explain to you The Writing Process.” I said “I feel like if I knew the steps to The Writing Process then i could succeed better. I’m the type of person who can follow steps or a process.” Don said quickly “Give me your full attention for a sec.” He started with “Prewriting is everything that takes place before the first draft. Prewriting usually takes about 85 percent of the writer’s time. It includes the awareness of his world from which his subject is born. In prewriting, the writer focuses on that subject, spots an audience, chooses a form which may carry his subject to his audience. Pre- writing may include research and daydreaming, note-making and outlining, title-writing and lead-writing.”[1] He took a gulp out of his blue moon and followed with “Writing is the act of producing a first draft. It is the fastest part of the process, and the most frightening, for it is a commitment. When you complete a draft you know how much, and how little, you know. And the writing of this first draft—rough, searching, unfinished—may take as little as one percent of the writer’s time.”[2] He said “I’ll wrap it up here. Rewriting is reconsideration of subject, form, and audience. It is researching, rethinking, redesigning, rewriting—and finally, line- by-line editing, the demanding, satisfying process of making each word right. It may take many times the hours required for a first draft, perhaps the remaining 14 percent of the time the writer spends on the project.”[3] “Ok thanks Don I see the steps now,” I said.“But, I have trouble with focusing on my writing, it’s just something i can’t give my full attention to.” Maria said “I got this one so listen up kid.” “I need an hour alone before dinner, with a drink, to go over what I’ve done that day,”[4] She said “but then again I always need a drink! Maria said “I never listen to music when I’m working. I haven’t that kind of attentiveness, and I wouldn’t like it at all.”[5] “I don’t know if I can do that Maria, I am very passionate about my music.” She said cockily “Well look where you are now!” I shrugged while saying “I guess you’re right.” “I had a ritual once of lighting a candle and writing by its light and blowing it out when I was done for the night … also kneeling and praying before starting.”[6] Maria laughingly said “Till I knocked the candle over and almost burned my house down.” “Thanks Maria. Now I have the steps and i know how to focus, but what if i start to panic because i’m out of ideas?” Anne yelled “Finally, my turn.” “First I try to breathe, because I’m either sitting there panting like a lapdog or I’m unintentionally making slow asthmatic death rattles,”[7] Anne exclaimed. She then explains her next step by saying “All I’m going to do right now, for example, is write that one paragraph that sets the story.”[8] “After I write that one paragraph, I get in a groove and finish the piece,” she said. “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.”[9] “Ok, I think i got it. Basically I write, prewrite, and rewrite. Then i focus on writing my piece by doing different methods. Lastly, (if necessary) I take it slow if I’m dry for ideas by breathing and do a first paragraph then it all should flow from there?” Altogether they say “Precisely!” “Great I think I got it!” [1]Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product (Don Murray) [2]Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product (Don Murray) [3]Teach Writing as a Process Not a Product (Don Murray) [4]Quote by Joan Didion excerpted from The Daily Writing Routines of Great Writers (Maria Popova) [5]Quote by E.B. White excerpted from The Daily Writing Routines of Great Writers (Maria Popova) [6]Quote by Jack Kerouac excerpted from The Daily Writing Routines of Great Writers (Maria Popova) [7]Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott) [8]Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott) [9]Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott)
1 Comment
|
JamesI will use this blog to write about the written word and the world! Archives
December 2018
Categories
All
|