Monday, September 24, 2012

Setting Yourself Free: Avoiding First Draft Perfectionism

By: Helen Ryan

I know I am all-too frequently guilty of the following writing transgression: trying to craft a perfect paper in my first draft.  Whether it's because I've gotten overconfident in my abilities and think “I’m awesome, I don’t need more than one swipe through this assignment for it to be great,” or because I don’t want to have to do more than cursory editing, I end up stuck in the following position: trying to write a perfect polished piece in my first draft.

A word to the wise: DON’T do this.

Obviously it’s absolutely imperative to go through written pieces to check for wordiness, run-on sentences, or any of the other writing woes that can befall even the best of writers, but for all you writers who already diligently go through the draft-edit-revise process, I have another suggestion: let yourself run free with your first draft.

The fact of the matter is, if you try to write a mostly-finished paper as your first draft, you’ll miss tons of wonderful ideas, turns of phrase, and other gems of language while you’re being overly concerned with page limits, not letting your paragraphs go too long, or other restrictions.  Trying to write too perfectly too soon means you’re prematurely editing and cutting yourself off.

From personal experience, I have a story applicable to this idea from as recently as this weekend.  I was working on two application essays for a Fulbright English Teaching Assistantship grant, and the page limit is insanely short: a single page each.  These essays are meant to prove my competency and interest in teaching English abroad, and I am faced with the staggering task of trying to smash all my ideas, interests, and enthusiasm into such confines.  The task is, in short, quite nearly impossible.

I spoke to one of my professors about the difficulties I was facing with the restrictions, and his advice was  wonderfully simple: just let yourself write, worry about fitting the length requirement later.  Try to stay within the limits from step one, and you’re going to miss tons of great ideas and end up hemming yourself in as you go.  So I wrote freely on the essays, went way over the limit, and am now in the editing process, but you know what?  Editing now from my large pool of writing is far easier than trying to stay within a single page as I was writing.

This basic advice can benefit all writers, whether their assignment is two frustratingly short single-paged essays, or a thesis project that spans tens (or even hundreds) of pages.  By really letting your thoughts and words flow in a first draft, even if you have to trim half of them out later, you’ll have a much better idea of what you really want to say, how to say it, and what you want the strong points of your writing to be.

So, a message to all the first-draft writers of the world: let yourself write free.

Monday, September 17, 2012

Writing in the "Real World"

...and no, I don't mean the Matchbox 20 song, for all you 90s folks out there...


By: Morgan Keschl

As a writing consultant, I spend numerous hours each semester helping others become better writers, while also balancing the task of writing my own papers. I’ve maintained this consultant-student balance for over two years now; however, as a wary upcoming senior, I was looking for a fresh experience and a taste of the real world; whether this taste would be sweet or sour kept me up at night.

Let me tell you –my full-time, summer internship with a Fortune 500 company has changed my view of the “real world” for the better…and yes, the “real world” actively seeks proficient writers.
Call me cynical, but college students often ask themselves if what they are learning in their undergrad career will be useful in this obscure “real world.” I have found that taking my writing seriously in college, whether writing about media images (my forte) or the toxicity of hexavalent chromium, has certainly led me to be more confident about my future. This is how:

My first day on the job involved me drafting a letter that the company would send out within the week, and no sooner did I finish this letter, I was given a batch of new ones to review. Part of my summer position involved editing the company’s 100 most popular letters that it sends to its customers and making them friendlier and easier to understand. While a daunting task at first, it became an experience I enjoyed as I tried to relate to the customer and be as clear and thoughtful as possible –after all, the company’s letterhead was always at the top. Coming from a working class family myself, I could empathize with the recipients of the urgent collection letters.

But, my writing spree did not stop there. Not only did I edit letters that were actually being mailed to customers by the end of my internship, but I also wrote my own audit summaries as well as communicated important changes to the supervisors and customer service representatives. By default, I also wrote several emails as the weeks passed, since writing in these organizations not only requires email, but also professional communication. We all know that email is inescapable and inevitable, even as college students, making writing skills even more important.

My writing-intensive internship showed me that good writing is necessary beyond the courses we take in college. On my first day and in subsequent days, I was expected to write, and I imagine many business-oriented careers to be no different. Whether writing an email or an audit summary, these organizations seek employees who know how to communicate, and most effectively in writing. 

Whether you become a scientist or a screenwriter, reasons to write eloquently and professionally will be required at some point.  From this “real world” experience, I have become more confident in my writing abilities, while also appreciating the papers I had to write in college that got me to this point. 

I hope that you, as a reader, will also realize the importance of writing and communication in the “real world,” since it is on the horizon for each student in every discipline.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Back to school and writing again

By: Eileen Brumitt, Writing Center Coordinator
Eileen thinking about writing.

I have been teaching writing to college students for eight years now, but I rarely have an opportunity or a reason to write an academic paper myself. Since I am now back in graduate school, I have to write the kinds of papers I ask my students to write for the first time in a long time.
Last Friday night, I sat down to write my first graduate school paper. The prompt was to read two essays on the nature of slavery and to write an argument about which theorist is more compelling—so it is your basic compare/contrast on a higher level. I sat there with the documents and my laptop ready to go, and as I struggled to put into words these ideas I had about the topic, I realized something that I don’t always think about…
Writing is hard.
Even for English professors, writing academic papers is not something that is easily accomplished. When the task is to write an academic essay (which is much harder to write than this blog post), I have to create a thesis statement and then support that thesis with paragraphs that go in some sort of order that makes sense to someone other than me. I have to think about writing something that my graduate school professor will respect. I want to prove myself, to find out that I am worthy of being in this program and in this class. And all of this is riding on one little three page position paper!
The good news is that I made it through the evening and through the paper. I was able to, I hope, put together a solid argument and support it. This time it was hard, but I survived the task. Next time, it will probably be easier because I have gotten some confidence out of this experience. I can write a graduate level paper. I know this is true because I just did it.

Monday, September 10, 2012

Writing Consultant Highlight - Stephanie Astacio

WRITING CONSULTANT HIGHLIGHT
Stephanie Astacio

Stephanie is a sophomore Nutrition major. While this is her first semester as a writing consultant, she seeks to pass along useful writing tips and perspectives she's gained so far in her college career. Stephanie believes that her writing skills have helped her in a major that students may not immediately recognize as writing-intensive, nutrition, through its focus on reading comprehension. 

See below for Stephanie's insights.


As a writing consultant, you know how to put a paper together, but what is your writing process like?
I'm pretty organized because of all of the methods I learned in middle school. I typically like to brainstorm any ideas I have. Then I come up with a "game plan" or checklist organizing how I'm putting the rest of the paper together. When I check off a part of my list that I have finished, I feel good and get motivated to finish the next task. It helps me to stay focused, like I'm cheering myself on :) Cheesy but effective!

Let’s face it: No one is perfect. What is your biggest writing challenge?
Getting started and finishing! It takes a lot of effort starting up my ideas and figuring out how to tie everything together.

How does your major help you become a better writer?
Nutrition majors have plenty of research to do which involves plenty of reading. The best way to become a better writer is to become a better reader, so all that reading will pay off.

What is your general advice to writers?
Be patient with yourself and your writing and always look for motivation and inspiration. If you're not the least bit interested in what you're writing about, your paper will show it.

What is something interesting not many people know about you?
I've belly-danced for 6 years and I'm abnormally flexible.

What is your favorite book? Why?
I have a favorite series and favorite book. Series has to be the Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare. She has the ability to shock, frustrate, and provide an adrenaline rush in each book! If you're looking for a good sci-fi read , that's it. My favorite book would be North of Beautiful, a wonderful tear-jerker that's inspiring.


COMMENT BELOW TO OFFER STEPHANIE YOUR QUESTIONS AND FEEDBACK!