Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Rachel D's Response to "Getting Launched"
Regretfully I have never really been much of a writer, but when it does happen, every blue moon, I tend to think my writing skills could beat Shakespeare’s. But I rarely make rough drafts, or any drafts for that matter, and my outcome is usually something to laugh at or cry over, which is perhaps the reason for the lack of writing in my life. However I do enjoy writing and I believe reading this article could really help me write more during my life and in a more efficient way. The main aspect in this article that really hit me was how much he stressed thinking, and drafting, even if it’s on small cards. I usually do my thinking last second. And even then it can hardly be called thinking, I am guilty of playing Tetris as a thought motivator, among other things, like listening to hard rock and punk music, the whole time thinking how much I do not want to do what I am about to do, and usually my paper will end up with a frowny face or a note to come see the teacher after class, which hopefully will not happen to me. I just read that this didn’t need to be long and I apologize for my ranting. I did read it though.
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I used to be the same way. I was the worst procrastinator in the world and I never did any form of outlining or drafting, so it was always the final draft I was sweating over the night before it was due. I'm still an awful procrastinator, but my drafting skills have been improved. My junior year I had the most amazing English teacher of my life. Mr. Lameyer was cool enough to put Watchmen on his reading list, but also such a great teacher that he made us think about that comic book so in depth that it has become one of my favorite pieces of literature. When we had to do a research paper for his class, he made us use the notecard method. This means copying out every single piece of semi-useful information from our sources onto notecards, which we then arranged mad-scientist style on the floor as our outline. It took so long, but I know that my paper was 20 times better than it would have been because I had taken the time to prepare for writing properly. Sorry if this was too long. I'm not really sure what my comment is supposed to be like :S
ReplyDeleteI am the exact same way. I will write a rough draft IF it is mandated by the teacher. However, if it isn't I typically write one draft have my mom proofread it for typo's and turn it in! I don't write quickly (like the article suggested) and I will often stress over getting certain phrases and words to sound just like I want them to. Most papers take me quite a long time because they are the only draft I've written, and I want it to sound good for the teacher. I usually get a pretty good grade on the paper and continue to write all my future papers in a similar manner. It's hard for me to just spit something out without really thinking about it because I tend to take so much time getting the wording to sound just write. I will often fret over trying to think of that certain word (that's always on the tip of your tongue) that sounds so much better than the one word that keeps coming to mind. I am a fan of the note card method. It makes for a better research paper and it is much easier to memorize it if you are making it into a speech.
ReplyDeleteYeah, i'm totally with Mary. If i would have done the notecard method with this first draft of the wikipedia paper, my thoughts would have been way more collected, and I might have noticed before writing that I had way too little information. And as for punk as a writing motivator, that's just super awesome. Thats how I usually write my papers: lots and lots of music. It helps keep me in my seat so I don't get up from my chair and actually get something done.
ReplyDeleteMusic is too distracting for me... unless I play this one CD that my Mom bought from this store that was going out of business. It's called Gold (I think) and it's by some guy with the first name of Michael (but I think he spelled name differently than how I did)... I think his last name is Blue. It's the kind of music that you don't really listen to; it's just sort of there; you know?
ReplyDeleteAnyway, not exactly the BIGGEST fan of the note card method; but if I have to write a ton of stuff or tons of awesome-packed info, the note cards do help... a ton. It takes me so long to write down all the crazy stuff that pops into my head coherently anyway, so I generally (like you AKA Rachel) don't write drafts unless I have to. But drafts make all the difference (if that makes any sense... today hasn't been exactly all-together for me, if you know what I mean). Now I'm babbling.
~Tori
I don't usually spend that much time thinking about what I'm going to write about either. But lately I have been trying it, and I think it really helps. When I have a general idea of what I'm going to write about swimming around in my head, more ideas tend to come to me. I'm glad I read this article, it was full of valuable advice.
ReplyDeleteI like this paper. There are a lot of things i don't do that would help mea lot in my writing
ReplyDeleteI find that i over think my writing alot of the time and i don't get the most out of it at first because there is to much in my head.
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