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Rae Overton

Professor Gardiakos

ENC 1101

10 October 2021

Writing Processes and Practices

While brainstorming this essay I promised myself I would try my hardest to write a

genuine, honest essay about my views of myself as a writer and my writing process. Having said

that, I am not going to lie and say that I planned this essay for the weeks we were given or even

came up with any sort of written plan. A little method to my madness is doing everything in a

time crunch, generally the night before assignments are due because it forces me to get

everything down on paper and not dwell too much on what needs to be fixed when I am drafting

anything. Procrastination is a key part of my writing process and I don’t think that part will ever

leave me, but hopefully it will get better over time. Though my time management skills can be

improved upon, I do think I am a decent writer with the assistance of all those who have coached

me through writing in the past. This essay will explore my processes as a writer, who and what

have helped me develop as a writer, and reflections on my own writing abilities.

Restating my earlier thought, a part of my process is putting things off until they can

absolutely no longer be ignored. This essay itself is being written late at night the day before it’s

due because this is the only time that I can sit and write papers without much distraction and just

enough stress to force me through the end of the paper. Though, similar to Jaydelle Celestine’s

process, I find myself in need of very quiet and calm environments, because the noises become a

distraction to me and make it difficult to write (Celestine 205). Sometimes I enjoy putting on

music from the Minecraft soundtrack to try and relax since they are all soothing instrumentals,
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but even that can become too much of a distraction for me. My head is constantly buzzing and it

will take any opportunity given to pay attention to a distraction and ignore whatever task I am

supposed to be doing. Silence, or very quiet music, makes it so much easier to piece my thoughts

together and skim over all of my sources so that I can put together a coherent paper, unriddled by

holes caused by noisy distractions. Delving into the actual process itself, I find that I never allow

myself to write what Anne Lamott refers to as a “child’s draft”,” or a more chaotic and informal

version of a rough draft (Lamott 88). I find it very difficult to intentionally put something

together that I know is not good enough to be read by someone else. It is harder for me to write a

child’s draft of an essay than it is to write a boring draft that is ultimately the final essay minus a

few grammar corrections and additional sentences. Many people find freedom in this sort of

draft, but it is stressful for me to write drafts that way and they ultimately become scrapped

entirely with no real progress made towards the final draft. Instead of a child’s draft I tend to

compile quotations or random bulleted notes about what I may include in an essay, just so I don’t

have to go skimming through sources again. It helps keep everything organized and conveniently

located in one place for me to pull my thoughts from. Though, when writing more personalized

or creative pieces no real plan goes into those and they are written almost entirely from stream of

consciousness, besides a few small notes prior to the draft.

The actual writing process itself feels like I just black out for a portion of time. I tend to

zone out while writing sentences all essentially from stream of consciousness, then go back to

check these later hoping that everything I’ve written down makes sense and is not a deformity of

words. See, I had to reread that entire sentence right there because I completely blanked while

writing and just kept adding verbs and adjectives that made the sentence sound like it flowed

better. I like to think of myself as a good writer with a formal process, but writing this essay now
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I realize just how messy it actually is in comparison to the other people I know who have their

own processes for writing papers. After I know what sources, I want to pull from and very vague,

general ideas that should be included in my essay, I quickly write an introduction paragraph that

serves as a brief background and summary of what I am going to be writing about. After that I

pick a random topic from the introduction that I know enough about to start with and draft away.

Generally, each body paragraph or two exhausts my brain so I take short breaks in between

writing so that I can collect my thoughts or comb over what I’ve already written for editing

purposes or a refresher of whatever thoughts I have actually gotten down on paper. I feel similar

to Tony in Sondra Perl’s research study, who spent a large portion of his time proofreading his

papers and editing them (Perl 105). My writing is a very recursive process similar to Tony’s in

that after my short sessions of zoning out and writing my papers I have to go back and proofread

what I have written so that I can genuinely process what I’ve put down for the first time, or comb

over it for any obvious mistakes. I believe writing to be especially recursive process for most,

some more than others. The conclusion of my papers always feels like an anticlimactic ending

that captures what I’ve gotten down on paper. I try my best to make them as interesting as

possible so they don’t feel like a waste of time. They will continue to be my least favorite part of

writing essays until the end of time, or I at least become better at making them feel useful and

interesting. I always tell myself I will proofread an essay once it’s complete drafted, but I will be

honest and say I haven’t done this for a long while because I’m confident enough all of my stress

during the actual writing portion kept it as coherent and on topic as possible.

Moving away a bit from the actual process of writing, I would like to talk about the

people and things that have shaped my strategies and style as a writer. One of the biggest

influencers in my writing is my eleventh-grade English teacher. Similar to Celestine’s English

teacher Mrs. Patrick who always pushed him to the limit, my English teacher was always there to

motivate us and encourage us to do our best with writing (Celestine 208). Similar too to

Celestine, I had a very back and forth opinion about her in the beginning calling her the best and

worst teacher, but now that I look back she is probably the best English teacher I have ever had.

Mrs. Allen’s voice plays in my head whenever I write my essays and I write the way I do

because I think she would be proud of me. One of the most influential pieces of advice she gave

me that I utilize every essay is to always leave your strongest body paragraph for last because a

stronger finish makes for a stronger essay. If the audience’s most recently read paragraph was the

greatest, you have a better chance of being received better. She was right wholeheartedly and I

will continue to follow her advice until the end of time. My parents also provided me the ability

to gain literacies. Though they never actually taught me writing skills or coached me how to

write an essay they always encouraged me to the best of their abilities. They also fed my book-

hungry spirit when I was a kid enabling me to grow up in an environment loving reading, which

would eventually lean into making me a better writer because of my experience with literature.

Though I mostly read fiction like Percy Jackson, the writing styles and organization of the books

I read as a child inspired me to write better and helped me to become a more creative individual

in my writing. I always try to avoid making my paper’s too stale because I don’t want to force

someone to read something I wouldn’t even read myself.

Now comes possibly the most difficult thing I can write about, my reflection on my

abilities, habits, and growth as a writer. There is certainly obvious improvement in more recent

essays I have done versus writing from early high school. I recently found a flash drive with a

short story on it that I wrote my freshman year of high school, and man was it painful. It was

obvious I was not as skilled of a writer as I am now. It was so wordy and what was supposed to
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be a short flashback for a character turned into an extremely long and wordy chapter of its own.

Similar to how Thomas Osborne describes himself as a rambling, senile old-man, I’ve found that

a lot of my writing is quantity over substance (Osborne 2). What I mean by this is I don’t exactly

write poorly and use extra words to fill space or lengthen papers, I just get caught up in my

rambling and go on almost endlessly. My brain runs a million miles a minute so it is difficult for

me to get my thoughts down on paper in short concise details rather than doling out long winded

explanations to ensure that the reader physically cannot misunderstand what it is that I am trying

to say. Even my friends will complain about how when I tell stories I try to fill them in on too

much background information and go into too much detail rather than getting straight to the

point of the story. In this way I do relate to Osborne feeling like a “senile old man.” Though I

admit this habit is one that has improved over time it still needs adjustments. Though, I don’t

think it makes me a bad writer. Yes, I may have more to cut from my essays than other people,

but I believe it can give me an advantage because it allows me more wiggle room in my writing

than other people might because of my ramblings. I can cut certain things without losing all too

much and still manage to get the point across after rewording what has already been written. My

ramblings can also be a tad useful when doing creative writing projects because I can build a

scene better than somebody who is used to writing very little detail. Even with my critiques of

my habit of rambling, I do believe myself to be a decent writer. The impostor syndrome

screaming in the back of my mind prevents me from lying and saying that I am a good writer, so

decent shall suffice for now. I believe that my writing always gets the point across to the reader

and doesn’t stray too far off topic, while also trying to not sound so boring as to put the reader to

sleep. I know I have certainly made use of many of Downs’ rhetorical concepts in my writing

like the appeals, ecology, etc. to keep the readers captivated while using all of my resources to
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the best of my ability to either persuade or educate about various topics (Downs 377-379).

Though I have not always used a couple of these concepts, since starting writing in this class I

have made my best efforts to use these strategies to the best of my abilities. I believe this has

lead me towards becoming a better writer overall and understanding more about how I can

captivate and reach an audience in my writing.

This essay has been a very clarifying approach to my process as a writer. Though it may

not be very impactful to whoever reads it, it was certainly a beneficial piece for me to write. It

allowed me to think more on how I actually brainstorm and go through the process of writing, in

addition to thinking back on the people who have helped me improve my writing the most. The

reflective portion of the essay also gave me a little more insight on how I have actually improved

as a writer and allowed me to take a little more pride than usual in my writing abilities.
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Works Cited

Celestine, Jaydelle. “Did I Create the Process? Or Did the Process Create Me?” Writing About

Writing, edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2014, pp.

204-216

Downs, Doug. “Rhetoric: Making Sense of Human Interaction and Meaning-Making” Writing

About Writing, edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2014,

pp. 369-392

Lamott, Anne. “Shitty First Drafts” Writing About Writing, edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug

Downs, Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2014, pp. 87-92

Perl, Sondra. “The Composing Processes of Unskilled College Writers” Writing About Writing,

edited by Elizabeth Wardle and Doug Downs, Bedford/St. Martin’s. 2014, pp. 93-117

Osborne, Thomas. “Late Nights, Last Rites, and the Rain-Slick Road to Self-Destruction” Stylus

2014