[Elsa]

I have to be honest writing is not my strength. I always have a hard time when it comes to writing an essay. The first thing that comes to my mind is what should I write down or say, even though I read all the instructions.I think one of reason is because English is not my first language and I find it hard for me to translate what I write. In fact, I didn’t attended school in U.S which is another reason why it’s a little harder for me.
I don’t really have any strategy. I always ask someone to help me and check my writing and my spelling. Also I receive help from my professor which makes my life easy and less complicated. However, I do a lot drafts before I always hand in the right one.
I’m still in the process of getting use to it and learning at the same time. Hopefully by the end of the semester I will be able to learn more than what I know. I don’t really have a special place to write or do my assignments as long it’s quite and there are no distractions it would be good for me. One interesting sentence from Shitty Drafts was “ almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts”. I personally can relate to this. I have to begin with something terrible to get better results. I believe repetition is the key.

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

[FahmidC]

Admittedly, my writing process is pretty terrible. I don’t spend the time to write multiple drafts of an essay. I’ve always written one draft of an essay and just that because for someone as stubborn as I am, I never really saw the point to writing the same thing over and over in different ways. If I know what I’m going to write then I’ll just write it as I think about it. to me, there was never a need to spend days on end erasing and adding new info until it was the best it can be. I usually spend a couple of hours tweaking it here and there until I was satisfied with the work. I usually write my essays some time in the late afternoon once my mind’s been relaxed from all tension and is clear for working.

“Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it.”
This line sticks out to me because it gives me reassurance that I’m not the only one that’s having trouble writing. People constantly hit a roadblock in writing and need time to either take a break or just continue and let the words form by itself and see what the end result has become.

[MelvinB]

My writing process has been extremely horrible in the past, but my writing process has grew and improve overtime. I remember in middle school around the 8th grade I used to hate English class because anytime I would be assigned and essay, I knew that I would be up all day and all night trying to craft an essay. I would end up making 4 or even five rough drafts before I submitted my final paper. I came up with a good strategy, so I would write an outline, write my rough draft, type my rough draft, and then type my final draft. I really don’t have a special place where I prefer to write. Anne Lamott stated “The first draft is the child’s draft”. That quote stood out to me because I remember the feeling of getting a paper to write and at the beginning just writing whatever come to my mind. When I revise and type my final draft, I would reflect on my 1st draft and see how much it has grown.

[Ibnoxious]

Personally I am someone who like conversation and talking so talking and translating my thoughts to the paper has not been much of an issue for me. But this was not always the case as before I used to have trouble getting started on papers because I didn’t know what or how to say things but then one day I realized all i have to do is say it how I hear it instead of how i think people want to hear it. That being said there is not much too my writing process as I don’t like to over think my writing nor am I a fan of draft after draft though I know teachers prefer it that way. My main areas of writing are my bed and on the train as those are two places where for some reason my distractions become limited. I usually have a playlist playing while i write but I make sure the songs don’t have too many lyrics or they contain lyrics I don’t know because when i do recognize them they will be playing in my head and permeating my thinking process.

“Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it. ” was the line that stuck with me because some writers don’t realize how good or influential their piece will truly become until after it has already been complete. This line is helpful for those who may feel stuck on a paper or feel like what ever they are in the middle of may not be worth finishing however we can’t judge the piece just based on a third or even a half of it because as they say a good story has a beginning middle and end and its until you end it that it may be judged.

[Todd]

My writing process has been mainly lazy. I am a huge procrastinator so I always delay writing a big essay till the last minute. I write better with pressure on me, that’s when all my ideas come. I only do multiple drafts if i’m asked. When I revise it, I just revise on what people think I need to make more clear or better. Also spelling errors. i don’t really have a special place to write.

I don’t really remember one sentence. Once i’m done with a essay I completely forget about it

[Daveed Roopnarain]

My writing process has changed a ton over the years. Today I try to write far more in-depth stories where I elaborate much more on my details. At one point when I wrote when I was a lot younger I guess I used to underestimate the strength of details, so I would tend to write with a whole lot of main ideas that were super lack luster. When I got to high school my view on writing changed so much. Reading works like “The Waste Land” by T.S. Eliot taught me that it’s the details that truly want to sell you something, like the obvious main points can actually mean so little especially when it takes the details to provide its meaning. When it comes to my drafts I always ask myself, what does this add to my overall paper, then I figure what I can either change to it or whether or not I can just remove it to make it better. After I get the main pieces of the paper done then I would work towards fixing all my grammatical errors.

“It was almost just typing, just making my finger move. And the writing would be terrible.” This quote is huge for me. Sometimes when i’m at a major standstill with my writing I would just write to get anything out there. In hopes that something I wrote would inspire me and bring me back on track.

[Eva.A]

My writing process depends on whether i was interested in the topic or not. I base it on that because when i personally have something interesting to write it makes my writing more entertaining. The most drafts i have written are two. The reason i wrote two drafts was because i always had multiple ideas on how i would write something. Since i had a variety of ideas i brought down those idea to two and pick within both. I could write anywhere my room, the library, work, anywhere. As long as I’m interested in the topic. “It’s not like you don’t have a choice, because you do — you can either type or kill yourself.” The reason this line was memorable to me was because i remember felling this way at a certain point in my life. I remember the excitement and the dread of writing.

[Kenny Cohetero]

My writing process has been very simple, looking at the due date and then realizing it’s due the next day I start to worry and drink my redbull and go crazy to get it all done. I write 1-2 drafts depending on the time I have and revise them every time I reread it and feel like I could write it better. If I feel like I could add more details or pack it with more meaning then I might change the whole paragraph completely. I’ll look at past pieces of work I’ve written and get inspiration from them. My special place is my bedroom.

“Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it”(1st sentence, 2nd paragraph)
I don’t know what I’m doing when I start writing and don’t know where to start and take time to do it and just write nonsense. Then I look back at it and get meaning from it and know how to correct it and add onto it

[Hadeel A]

My writing process will always consist of either planning or going right into it. It honestly depends on the topic I am writing about for me to write drafts. There can be times where I don’t even write one, just the final piece. A strategy of mine that I have for revising and editing is that I need quite… no distraction no noise. My attention span is like a fly to be honest. I get easily distracted . I like to sit in my dinning room, for some reason I get mostly all my work done there rather than in my room or the kitchen table .

“The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later.” This sentence is interesting to me because I have never thought about writing a paper like a child’s draft, just keep rambling and you’ll just fix it later. I also see this sentence helping me in the future.

[Josiah Ponce]

I believe there’s no such thing as a perfect first draft, most times I find myself looking back at my writing and asking myself “why would I do that?’ depending on what I decided to do in that piece of writing. As humans we are prone to mistakes, so I find that writing first, second, and final drafts are a critical key to bettering yourself as a writer. I don’t always write multiple drafts on my own if they’re not asked of me by my professor in exchange for credit but when I do, It’s usually if I know that the essay plays a big part of my grade and if I know ahead of time before the due date.

One group of sentences I found from the text that caught my eye is when Lamott’s friend breaks down the process of the 3 stages of drafts, she says the first draft is called the “down draft’ and it’s bottom line purpose is to ensure you have the idea down. The second draft is the “up draft”, in which you take the time to spruce it up. Finally, the “dental draft” is the final draft used to fix every loose metaphorical “tooth”(mistake or loose ends), in your essay.