My Writing Process

abac077, "Computer World," Sept. 27, 2007 via flickr, attribution non-commercial share alike license

My first blog post is a reflection on my personal writing process.

1. What type(s) of writer do you consider yourself to be?

I consider myself to be a heavy reviser. Often when I start writing I get into a sort of rhythm. Soon into the process, phrases start coming to me before I'm ready to type them and so I just hit "enter" a few times and leave them at the bottom of the page. Then once I get to the section where I wanted that phrase or sentence to go, I put it in as I type. I normally work through the paper from beginning to end and then go back and revise it more.

2. Does your writing process include several approaches?

I also tend to be a bit of a procrastinator. I believe this is because when I do schoolwork, I often do a lot of one subject at a time. So then I'll have a lot done for Math, but not so much for English. I also tend to convince myself that I need a lot of time to write all at once, because most of the time I do. Once I start writing and get into a rhythm, I feel as if I can't stop or else I'll forget to put something that I liked into my paper. So because of this, I often write my papers in one day or afternoon...which unfortunately often happens to be the last one.

3. Does your writing process seem to be successful? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your approach?

I think my writing process if successful for me. At the end of it I am often very happy with the paper I've written. One of the biggest strengths of my process is that it allows me to write the end of my paper in the same rhythm as the beginning of my paper. This often keeps my voice consistent and helps it flow better. Probably the biggest drawback of my process is that it encourages procrastination. So as a result, some nights before big deadlines end up being filled with a lot of stress and not a lot of sleep.

4. Do you think it might be beneficial to you to try a different approach? Why or why not?

I have tried to write by creating outlines beforehand, but that often doesn't work for me. I normally just end up starting to write sections of my paper instead of planning an outline. However, I sometimes make an outline as I'm writing my paper to make sure I include everything that I want to.

Update:
After reading and commenting on Annelise's (http://adutcher109h.blogspot.com/2015/08/my-writing-process.html?showComment=1440916405086#c1349054367934476623) and Betsie's (http://bdries109h.blogspot.com/2015/08/my-writing-process.html#comment-form) blogs, I feel better about my tendency to procrastinate. I still don't think it's a good thing because of the stress it causes, but I know that not all writing after procrastination is bad quality because of how well these two girls write. I really enjoyed reading their blogs and it gave my insight into different styles and voices for writing.