What type of writer do you consider yourself to be?
- I definitely consider myself to be a procrastinator. I distinctly remember writing an essay the morning it was due, typing it to a pulled together "perfection" on my laptop in 38 minutes. Although I told myself this was due to a hectic and crammed schedule, I definitely could have taken the time to begin earlier instead of scrolling through Tumblr for hours before beginning my daily homework. I did once write an essay two days before it was due, and it was honestly the most sophisticated piece of writing I had ever thrown together.
Does your writing process seem to be successful? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your approach?
- My writing process definitely has some downsides, such as the obvious rush for time, and the lack of opportunity to build on drafts. However, I tend to enjoy my approach as I can use the time I could spend revising, on something else, like doing other more time-consuming homework. I ended falling asleep most of the time doing the late-night writings, and waking up frantic in the morning, typing my essay on my laptop at home or on my phone between classes.
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| Natividad, Nino. "Stressed From Piles of Paper." June 17, 2010 via Flickr. Attribution Non-commercial ShareAlike 2.0 License. |
- I sometimes weave a few of the Sequestial Composer characteristics into my writing process, however, it is usually the night before as I am foremost a procrastinator. If I happen to include some of these other traits in my writing, it is a second thought going on in the background of my thoughts.
Do you think it might be beneficial for you to try a different approach? Why or why not?
- It would be amazingly beneficial for me to try a different approach, especially ones that include starting way before the daunting deadline. Being a Heavy Reviser would improve my writing drastically, and I think as I enter college, and get a feel for the type of work I need to accomplish, I will begin to see some changes in my writing process.
Reflection
Upon inspection of my fellow classmates (Laurence and Victoria) blogs, I found that many people are in the same boat as I am. Many people tend to procrastinate just as I do, and many are trying to change their style of writing.
I can definitely relate to that because change is always hard, and changing a characteristic about yourself that has remained in tact for many years is even more difficult. Reading about other peoples similar journeys is a relief, because then I can struggle with them. It informed me that we all have certain situations to overcome and that we can help each other to do so by forming study groups, reminding each other of homework, etc.
I can totally relate to this. I did pretty much the exact same thing in high school, one time even skipping my first period to type the rest of a U.S. History paper in my car. However, I absolutely think you should start anew in college.
ReplyDeleteIt would indeed be greatly beneficial to write sequentially or use one of the other methods. For me, sequential composing comes the most naturally, but to each their own.
I'm obviously not someone to talk, as I'm in the same boat as you, but I hope you do change so that you can be as successful as possible throughout college. Good luck, and I definitely enjoyed reading your post.
I can relate to the last minute essay write ups. I often did my best work at 1 or 2 am the night before the assignment was due. This led to some interesting ideas that I might not have been able to think of if I believed I had more time to complete the assignment. But, as you said, this did lead to too few rough drafts, and my obvious lacking of correct grammar.
ReplyDeleteSomething that can help with this is to set little goals before the final goal of completing the assignment. For example, depending upon when the assignment was given, I would make sure I got a first rough draft done 2 to 3 days in advanced (yes this is still close to the deadline, but sometimes when you spread out the work too much you can forget the main point or argument to your project) and allow yourself to edit the draft each day prior to fix as many mistakes as possible.
Sometimes I forget how stressed out I feel doing the entire essay the night before until it is the night before the assignment is due. Reading this brought back all those fond memories and reinforced my reason for planning out my writing time well in advanced.
I think most of our class has, at one point or another, been a "Procrastinator". I have a few stories myself of forgetting a paper due that day, or even of writing so last-minute that I became very ill from lack of sleep. From what I've seen of your writing, the process you are using now seems to be working very well. Your post is entertaining and informative, and I hope that you are able to accomplish your writing goals. I am a "Heavy Reviser" for the most part and hope to improve by planning more often, so I guess there is no truly perfect process. I am sure you'll adapt well to college deadlines and time demands, and hope I can do the same. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteDid you end up experimenting with other types of writing, or did you end up procrastinating throughout the year?
ReplyDeleteDid you end up doing heavy revision?
How do you think the structure of the deadline affected your procrastination? Did it prevent procrastination or encourage it?