My Writing Process

The concept of writing as a process versus a product is quite new to me. Usually, my emphasis is one the end product and not necessarily the way that I get there. However, having been exposed to the idea of writing as a process, I came to realise that in reality I was passing through the process even without knowing and also that the process makes writing more rewarding. In this essay, I will explore my use of the process by analysing my writing process as I prepared a two page opinion summary recently on the article by Richard Fulkerson, “Composition at the turn of the Twenty- First Century”.

As outlined in the article, “Teach Writing as a Process Not Product” by Donald M. Murray, there are three stages in the writing process, prewriting,

It is believed that this stage takes up about 14% of the overall process, according to Murray. This stage in the expression of my opinion of the essay, “Composition at the turn of the Twenty- First Century” was time consuming. First, I looked at the way I started the essay and decided if my introduction was a good “attention getter”. I did this based on knowledge gained in my freshman year about essay writing- the importance of a good introduction to any essay. After deciding on this, I examined the length of the essay. This was done to decide how far I was in the guidelines of the assignment. I also used this information to decide if in my re-writing I was going to be reducing or increasing the essay. Thirdly, I re-read the essay to ensure I was not contradicting myself and in places where I find ambiguity, I rewrite to ensure a much clearer understanding of what I was trying to say. Again this was done with me bearing in mind the fact that having been taught before by my lecturer, I knew her seriousness as it related to expectations and

Though it was the process around one particular paper, I know the approach I took was not peculiar to that paper alone. At the end of the exercise, I have come to realise that I have what I will call a very, “TEACHER PLEASING”, approach to the way I carry out my writing task. This as much of time is spent thinking about what I think my lecturer is expecting me to do and say instead of what I truly think about what I was doing. I sincerely want to believe that what I ended up with as a finish product having considered all the variables surrounding the expectations I assume I must meet, is no different from what I would have ended up with in the absence of such influences. However, I cannot say such with any conviction. I am a writer to please, not a writer to be true to self. A fact I must now work to