In-Person Writing Assignment

In Anne Lamott’s essay, “Shitty First Drafts,” she explains her writing philosophy of just getting ideas down on paper and then editing them later. While some disagree with this method, such as George Dila in his critical response, “Rethinking the Shitty First Draft,” many writers employ this technique to not only better their writing, but to overcome obstacles in the writing process. Even the most successful of writers will say that they actually hate writing, Lamott even compares it to pulling teeth. The intimidation of just starting to write becomes too much and leads writers to procrastinate. For many, an overwhelming, overbearing sense of perfectionism creeps in and creates anxiety and often lead to writer’s block. Everyone writes first drafts, but if a writer allows themselves to let go of all personal judgment and permits their writing to be “bad,” then they will most likely end up with great ideas that they did not even know were inside their heads. Once these ideas are allowed to flow out, then it becomes easier to visualize a realistic way of developing them into a full composition. By writing inferior first drafts, writers can focus on and express their ideas while overcoming the difficulties typically associated with the writing process.

We all have a choice when writing to not complete the task. But is it really going to kill us? We build up this wall and have all of these excuses because we are scared of failing. I believe it’s the end of the world when I’m writing. My palms become sweaty; I look for all types of excuses to procrastinate. After reading this article, I have learned that I’m not by alone. Feeling this way is normal and I can learn to be a better writer. I will take some of Anne’s suggestions and try to quiet the voices in my head. I will begin to write down my ideas as they pop into my head because no one will see all of my rough drafts. This will allow me to take the time to review my work with a clear

As a writer, I find myself getting lost. Typically, when I go to start writing I hit a brick wall. It’s as if all my thoughts suddenly escape my mind and I draw a blank. It takes me forever to conjure up some form of a thesis and then takes even longer to figure out what I should write to support it in a way that makes sense. Then, attempting to find a way to organize my ideas and put them together in cohesive paragraphs seems like an impossible task in the moment. It is not uncommon for me to get flustered and just throw something down on the paper because I get anxious seeing how much work is left to do. If I end up going back to read it over prior to submission,

When I sit to write, I have to think about what I want to say. This is not easy for me as I tend to think about several things at once. Clearing my mind and focusing on the writing task is a challenge in itself. I do not consider myself a strong writer and find it intimidating especially when I know it will be critiqued. The sense of failure when seeing the paper I worked so hard on look like the newest local headline of a recent murder is disheartening for me. I assume I am being overly critical of myself but those feelings seem to be redeemed when I look over the aftermath of what was my wonderful work of mental art.

The three things I learned about are: recognizing an emergency, deciding to help, and call 911 if EMS is needed. Recognizing an emergency is very important. Four factors to notice when something is wrong are: severity, physical distance, relationship, and time exposed.

1. According to the article, why do the authors think that traditional litigation methods have not been wholly successful in California?

My writing skill is a work in process. It is important that I remember in the early stages of writing that I am working on a draft, and not the finished thesis. That’s while I keep on writing even if I know

Some writers experience writer's block, not because of the sole reason that they can't write anything. Sometimes, they lose hope in writing something eloquent.

I have never been particularly confident about my writing. Academically, I survived Composition I and did not do as poorly as I thought I would since I do not even remember what I wrote in high school. In the workplace, most of my writing consists of short emails to coworkers and notes on the teacher’s lesson plan (I am a teacher’s aide), but those are not usually in complete sentences or paragraphs. Learning to write complete sentences that flow smoothly and coherent paragraphs with strong transitions is therefore one of my main goals for improving my writing. I also fear writer’s block. I have limited time to do my writing assignments, so if I sit down to the keyboard and no ideas are flowing out of my fingers, I am totally lost. Last term

When I'm actually writing, I write as fast as a turtle can crawl. A 2 page essay usually takes me around 6 hours to finish. My teacher once told me to use a process called brainstorming which I tried but found it not very helpful. It's no brain buster for me to start an essay. I just sit down, roll up my sleeve and start jotting down that first sentence. But what comes next is an arduous journey. I usually have thoughts going on in my head and while I'm pondering on which thought to put down on paper, I would forget what they were and I have to start thinking all over again. It is extremely taxing on me mentally. Once I'm stuck, which occurs almost after every sentence, I would reread the whole essay again. Worst yet, I have a fond habit of procrastinating. I can only write in peace and quiet, and that's only possible after everyone's in bed. Then surrounded by the infinity darkness of my room, I would merge with my paper and pen under the dim table lamp voided from the consciousness of space and time. Only when dawn glimpse through my window, would this timeless eternity be shattered. I would wait until night to start my writing trek, and "night" means the night before the assignment is due. This way I can finish the essay in one attempt instead of having to span over

I have struggled with writer's block with often. In the past, I've learned to take breaks while writing to help alleviate symptoms of writers block; however, during the semester I have learned to carry a pad of paper with me so that I can write down idea's while they are fresh in my mind. Writing down my thoughts has helped me avoid writers block because I have a list of thoughts about the subject before I have even started writing. When I struggle less to write it improves my essay's by decreasing my stress, this can be seen in my writing. I was afflicted with writer's block while trying to write both my compare and contrast essay and my description essay, this caused me a lot of stress and caused my essay to suffer. On the other hand, when I wrote my classify and divide essay I did not have to deal with writer's block. As a result the stress level was greatly decreased and the improvement is substantial.

Hi Kimberly, I know how you feel when you talked about the struggles you experienced in getting all your ideas onto paper. Writing papers is an overwhelming task that could result in anxiety and self doubt. Overcoming some of these challenges may require you to think about some of your positive experiences in your writing, keep a positive frame of mind, asking for help and believe in yourself. Once you have completed a paper and turned it in reward yourself by celebrating. Thank you for your post.

Writer's block is a condition, primarily associated with writing, in which an author loses the ability to produce new work or experiences a creative slowdown. The condition ranges in difficulty from coming up with original ideas to being unable to produce a work for years. Throughout history, writer's block has been a documented problem. Professionals who have struggled with the affliction include author F. Scott Fitzgerald, Joseph Mitchell, Jay Betts and pop culture cartoonist Charles M. Schulz. Research concerning this topic was done in the late 1970s and 1980s. During this time, researchers were influenced by the Process and Post-Process movements, and therefore focused specifically on the writer's processes. The condition was first described in 1947 by psychoanalyst Edmund Bergler.

Writing has always been something I dread. It’s weird because I love talking and telling stories, but the moment I have to write it all down on paper, I become frantic. It’s almost as if a horse race just begun in my mind, with hundreds of horses, or words, running through my mind, unable to place them in chronological order. Because I struggle to form satisfying sentence structure, it takes me hours, sometimes even days, to write one paper. It’s not that I think I’m a “bad writer,” I just get discouraged easily. Needless to say, I don’t think highly of my writing skills. When I was little I loved to both read and write. I read just about any book I could get my hands on, and my journal was my go to for my daily adventures. Although it’s

Chapter 7 was enlightening and the chapter I was able to relate with the most thus far. For example, one part of the text stated that educators and families often set low expectations for students with disabilities. I can relate to this personally. When I was in the IDEA program, my classes were rarely challenging and my teachers generally set low expectations for my peers and me. I believe the reason for this was to not stress the students or push them past their limits. However, my best teachers were those who did push me to my limits, so I could set a new limit the following semester.