[Amber Slater]

Hi all! Please respond to the following two questions:

1. To what extent does writing feel like a social process to you? Does writing ever feel lonely/isolating?

2. Pick one sentence from “Responding–Really Responding–to Other Students’ Writing” that is interesting/memorable to you. Why is it memorable or interesting?

[StrongHaven]

When writing its neither isolating nor lonely, in fact i prefer to write alone its my way to be peaceful. i think more about what i write about alone , no one is bothering. in short i think i prefer to be isolated and lonely its my way of expressing myself more when I’m writing.

i find that , “sound like you normally sound when your speaking with a friend or acquaintance. Talk to the writer. your not just making up a text your responding to the writer.”
Reason why i find this memorable is because this is what i do when i write for anything, like if it class or when i write in general. i write as i am speaking to the audience or as a friend or as i normally speak. also i write as if i am answering a question from what receive in my assignments that have to do with a personal question or general.

[Elliot Vidalon]

I don’t think that writing doesn’t really imitates of how isolated or connected the reader/writer is. It really depends of the topic of the writing and their opinion towards it. I personally prefer to be isolated if I ever want to write something I have in mind, if it was optional.

There is one quote according to the article ‘Straub’ and this can be quite handy if I ever end up in a situation like this. The article mentions, “Remember: You’re not an editor. Leave these sentence revisions and corrections for the writer. It’s her paper. And she’s going to learn best by detecting problems and making her own changes.” Reader or writer I believe the fact that these two have there own role and their following distinction between each other. I find this quite interesting because it personally guilds me what to do in a situation when someone ask me to read their writing and know the way to critic or giving advise to best esteem the writer.

[noura asad]

At times, writing does feel lonely or isolated. Although, I prefer to be alone when I’m writing because I’m more motivated that way. If I’m writing alone I’ll have a goal, know what to write, and get it on paper much faster than If I was surrounded by friends. The main reason why I feel loneliness is better when writing is because I’m more focused, with no distractions. Isolation, when I’m writing keeps me in the mode. Therefore, a way for me to express myself as needed on paper.
I found that, “Instead of making only one brief comment and moving on, say what you have to say and then go back over the statement and explain what you mean or why you said it or note other alternatives” very interesting. This line from “Responding Really Responding to other Students’ Writing” is interesting to me because one thing I find challenging at times when reading someone’s paper is how to explain my thoughts. I would make a comment and not be sure of how to explain why I had that suggestion. So, I think it’s very valuable when you can explain and backup your comments or thoughts on other students’ papers.

[Leanie Tejada]

When I’m writing it’s usually for a class assignment, so I normally see it as a task that I need to get out of the way before it’s due. Sometimes writing does feel lonely when you have no idea what to write about. For example, when a teacher gives an assignment that’s worth half of your grade and is due soon, it’s already enough pressure as it is. But then there may be the added situation where the assignment may be so difficult that you’re just stuck looking at your computer screen. At that moment you just want someone to give you an idea or tell you what to write, which does make it seem lonely. But with other moments when I know exactly what to write, I feel isolated in a relaxed way because I multi-task while working and watching TV. It’s all based on each person’s writing process, thinking, etc.

The sentence that stood out to me was “You’re not an editor. You’re not a teacher. You’re not a cruise missile. And don’t rewrite any parts of the paper. You’re not the writer, you’re the reader”. This was significant because I usually never know what I should be correcting. I normally see that they made small mistakes like grammar, but other than that I leave their work alone because I don’t know their thinking process to critique them. Maybe they wanted to make a point but didn’t know how to express themselves. I know that the person worked really hard on their writing, so I don’t want to undervalue their work since I wouldn’t like it if someone did that to me.

[Farai Matangira]

Personally, writing does not feel like a social process to me. There definitely is an element of isolation whenever I write because I usually prefer to write when I’m alone and in my own comfort zone away from any distractions. I have noticed that this yields the best pieces of writing for me.

“You don’t take on the role of The Nice Roommate or The Ever-faithful Friend and tell her what she wants to hear.” I found this sentence interesting because we have all been in a situation where we have to critique our friend’s work and try not to hurt their feelings in any way. This situation is always tricky because you try to balance helping out your friend with some constructive criticism, with risking saying something that will offend them. This is where choosing your words carefuly becomes extremely important.

[Abass Kane]

1) Writing doesn’t feel to me a social process. Because we have to be lonely an focus when we write. We better be isolated into our comfort zone so we can have the best of writing. However writing maybe a social process insofar that we can find inspiration by mixing with people or sharing what we write to have new ideas.

2)the sentence that talks to me is “You don’t take on the role of The Nice Roommate or The Ever-faithful Friend and tell her what she wants to hear”. It is really hard to criticize people. Some do accept it but other can not take it right. it is really painful to have a different with someone that we close and it s mostly hard to express our opinion to them when their are not the same because we don’t want hurt their feelings. Telling people what they want to heard will not make them any better if something goes wrong with them or what they doing we have to tell them so they can make their own retrospection and get better.

[Malaysia]

1) I don’t imagine that composing doesn’t generally impersonates of how detached or associated the peruse/essayist is. It truly depends of the point of the composition and their feeling towards it. I for one want to be separated in the event that I ever need to compose something I have at the top of the priority list, on the off chance that it was discretionary.

2) There is one statement in the article ‘Straub’ and this can be very convenient in the event that I ever end up in a circumstance like this. The article makes reference to, “Recall that: You’re not an editorial manager. Leave these sentence modifications and rectifications for the essayist. It’s her paper. Furthermore, she will adapt best by recognizing issues and rolling out her own improvements.” Reader or author I accept the way that these two have there possess job and their following differentiation between one another. I discover this very fascinating on the grounds that it by and by organizations me what to do in a circumstance when somebody request that I read their composition and know the best approach to pundit or offering encourage to best regard the author.

[Takira Poole]

1. Writing always feel like a social process because I am constantly getting other peoples feedback on my papers and I mostly do group projects that require a group paper. This puts me under a lot of pressure to make sure everything make sense and sounds professional. Writing can be lonely/isolating sometimes because their is so many ideas on what to write about and I don’t know how to choose one idea. This can be very frustrating because I have no where to start.

2) One sentence from “Responding–Really Responding–to Other Students’ Writing” by Richard Straub that really stood out to me was ” The paper is not yours; it’s the writer’s. ” When people are reviewing my paper they tend to forget that this is my paper. They tend to rewrite parts of my paper for me and make corrections on it. As the reader they should be giving me some suggestion on how I could make it better. This approach will help me become a better writer if they decide to give me suggestion instead writing the paper themselves.

[Ajaiah]

1)
In my opinion, writing isn’t a social activity. I may feel as though I’m talking to a group that consists of a few of me but that’s not necessarily social. That is just me thinking about different ways I could look at this paper or how I believe others would assess my paper. For this reason I don’t feel lonely when I’m writing, I’m have a thorough conversation with myself trying to make a paper worthy of a good grade.

2)
A sentence that interests me from “Responding–Really Responding–to Other Students’ Writing” is the first line of the fourth paragraph which states “First, don’t set out to seek and destroy all errors and problems in the writing”. This line interests me because I tend to call out everything I see right away instead of slowing down and trying harder to guide and understand the reader. Maybe taking a slower approach by trying to give some direction and understand the reader’s purpose in the first draft and getting more serious which is later or allowing the writer to deal with those smaller problems after the meat of the paper has been addressed. This is a new way to read someone’s writing that I’m interested in trying.

[Ramon.Jimenez08]

1) To think of writing as a social process, I think that it’s on the same level as writing newspapers. You have to first think about what you want to put onto the paper, and if it sounds good, you place it on paper and continue to build on that idea until it becomes a good article that you can share with others. Now, on the other side, writing does give off a side of isolation, where you’re locked into your own ideas, and you don’t see the other side to expand on your work. I feel like writing is mostly a personal thing, and it’s kind of hard to make writing a social activity.

2) A sentence from “Responding-Really Responding-to Other Students’ Writing” that really was interesting to me was, “Not like a teacher. Not like an editor or critic or shotgun. Sound like you normally sound when you’re speaking with a friend or acquaintance.” This sentence was memorable to me, because it tells us how to go try and speak like we’re talking with friends, which make typing things easier than trying to go with what we would say to our teachers.

[haroodg]

1) To no extent, writing feels like a social process to me because when I do write something meaningful it is for an assignment. I usually don’t write in my spare time but when I do, it may be notes or reminders for something that I heard or watched. I never feel lonely/isolating when writing because I listen to music. Music distracts me to the point where I forget about the outside world. I’m able to focus on the task at hand and complete it without worrying about how I feel in the current situation.

2) “Consider yourself a friendly reader. A test pilot. A roommate who’s been asked to look over the paper and tell the writer what you think. Except you don’t just take on the role of The Nice Roommate or The Ever-faithful Friend and tell her what she wants to hear.” I found this sentence interesting because it is very true. When you are an editor or responder you need to put in the mindset of tough love. Your job is to give constructive criticism and not shower the reader with compliments and admiration for their work. You have to help the writer improve their current writing while being the “Test pilot…Ever-faithful Friend”. I’ve been in situations where others would edit my paper but would not leave helpful criticism or would even praise my work that I knew that I half-assed.

[C Pichardo]

1. Writing only feels like a social process to me when it comes to asking people for their opinion on parts of my writing; or attempting to get valuable information from an individual so that I can use it within my writing. It sort of reminds me of an interview process. The majority of the time, however, what I write about does not really involve other people. The topics I tend to write about tend to be creative ideas in the form of writing fictional stories or philosophical ideas. During these writing processes, I tend to keep to myself, as I don’t truly look for other peoples opinion. It is only when I want to make the writing public, that it becomes a social process. Regardless, I should make writing a social process more often because it does improve my writing by giving me ideas on what to add, remove or change, things I can clarify, vocabulary I can use, ideas or points I can touch on or make etc. Writing, however, never truly feels isolating to me because although I am alone the majority of the time, my mind is filled with so many ideas that I’m eager to get down onto paper; and that is always a positive experience for me; one that I welcome with open arms because it truly excites me. The only time something makes me feel isolated/alone is if I rather not being doing it, and rather be socializing with others instead. For me, writing tends to be a positive experience 9/10 times; and I never feel isolated/alone when I am having a good time in solitude.

2. “Your’e not the writer; your’e the reader.” is a sentence I found memorable from “Responding-Really Responding- to Other Students’ Writing.” Sometimes I feel I need to be reminded that in situations where an individual asks me to review their writing, my goal is to offer advice , but not to take it completely overboard by truly trying to correct the paper as if it were my own. Sometimes I find it difficult to step back and not truly dive in by offering in-depth creative ideas or making huge corrections because that is all I know as an artistic individual. My mind gets lost in a spiral of creative possibilities, all of which I feel eager to share with the individual. This doesn’t only apply to reviewing others writing, but in my life in general; as I tend to think long and hard about everything, and get creative as possible. I also apply it to the similar concept of giving advice to people in their personal life, but not being so overbearing. Also, sometimes less is more because it can help ease or avoid stress; and so that I at least start whatever it is, instead of brainstorming tons of possible ideas, and not execute any of them; which, of course, isn’t productive. In saying so, I actually am using that piece of advice at the moment. In my discussion posts, I tend to go truly in-depth; but I realized, I can share my ideas without the added stress. I challenged myself to get my points across without tremendous amount of writing.

• This reply was modified 4 years, 7 months ago by C Pichardo.

[justinsteele]

Writing doesn’t feel like a social process to me. At times writing can be lonely/ isolating depending on what you write about. for example if you could be home alone writing a paper about yourself or something you’ve experienced and you might not need outside information from others. on the other hand writing can be sociable if you need opinions, feedback or sharing opinions and ideas.

A sentence that stood out to me is “friends don’t let friends think their writing is the best thing since The Great Gatsby.”. This sentence stood out because when friends grade each others work, they tend to give good remarks and not really give good criticism. They will also not share ideas with you it’ll be more so just an in and out job. Both of you say good things about each others work and say one or two things they could’ve worked on. This quote is important because we need more honest responses so that our writing is improved.

[haque]

Writing can be a social process where people can get feedback from others and improve their writing. I believe it only works for a few people and not all the time. When I write sometimg I don’t mind to be lonely or isolating because I give all my focus on that writing and think more clearly about my idea.
In the article “Responding–Really Responding–to Other Students’ Writing” what I find interesting is that Richard Straub said “ you’re not an editor. You’re not a teacher.” this interesting to me because when someone edits some other person paper it can go both ways like if I know more about the topic the other student is writing then I can fix or give some idea about it but if I have no idea about the topic then I mind writhe some feedback that might create more problems.