Week 8: reflective writing

What are you thinking now about “the” composing process? What do you see to be the main parts of such a process—and how would you describe those parts to someone who had never thought about such a process? How do the parts fit together?

How has our reading, discussion, and thinking shifted your sense of writing? How has your writing shifted your sense of writing?

     This course has changed my approach toward composition directly.  Our readings and discussions have led me to consciously consider each individual step in the writing/evaluating process as I write.  Where before I was aware of each step, the rhetorical approaches, and formal and stylistic techniques that I was using, I blended them together in a one or two draft melting pot.  After studying the writing process from an educator's standpoint, I have begun to understand the mental processes that define how we produce texts, and their influence in creating effective writing.  The main parts of the composing process are generally Prewriting, Drafting, and Revising.  If you view the composing process as a narrowing of an idea, a cyclical fine-tuning process, which can be repeated at the writers behest to until a satisfactory result is produced, then composition becomes more accessible.  I like to think of the composing process in relation to the three states of matter.  The Prewriting phase is gaseous, a loose hanging cloud of ideas and concepts unique yet indiscernible.  Drafting condenses the gas into a liquid.  The idea is now substantial, but it may not be confined to a specific location or idea, the argument has developed but its articulation isn't solid.  Revising is like a solid. The idea has taken a form.  Its style is visible, and its purpose is clear.  All that remains is the minute shaping and removal of excess material.  The buffing of detritus from the crystallized form.  Our reading and my individual process of writing in this course, has reshaped the way I approach any sort of formal writing production.  I am now inclined to consciously channel my efforts towards particular aspects of writing depending on the stage I am in.  I also have acquired a new appreciation (while it was there before) for the distribution of the writing process over a long period of time, as opposed to procrastinating.