Writing has always tested my patience. I can stare at a sentence for ten minutes, imagining tons of ways to reorder the words or play with commas. Then decide, nahh, and throw out the entire sentence. Not only is this inefficient, it's frustrating! So I've developed a step by step process this past week to get in the mood for my rhetorical analysis.
1. Go for a run. I would need to just get out of the house, and start getting in the writing mindset. Completely let your mind wander on the subject.
2. Take a shower. Who wants to write as a sweaty mess? Not this guy. I like to think the water spewing from my shower head is symbolically washing all my bad ideas away. Then I get frustrated that I would think of something so sappy.
3. Eat some food. Don't munch while you write though, zoning out in front of a bag of chips is the last thing the author of my article would want. But I definitely can't think creatively on an empty stomach.
By now, I'm exhausted. I'm so slap happy, that I'll write anything that comes to my head. I won't fuss over a sentence into the late hours of the night, I"ll just write. Then sleep. Then the next morning/afternoon, I can revise the simple grammar mistakes and elaborate more on the big picture when I can think logically. It seemed to work great! I never lost it and went into panic mode... which is quite the success.
I admire your ability to not go into panic mode!
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you on the running! When I'm stressed, I go to lifetime and work out on the stairsmaster or tred, and think about my homework...it makes me less stressed because exercising is so productive!
That's good that you just write anything that comes to mind, because it's our automatic editing that prevents good writing.
I also get out and take a run before I write. It helps clear my mind and distracts me from all the stress of writing a good essay just to get a good grade. Once I distract myself from the whole grades and GPA and college stuff, writing papers for school isn't that bad anymore. The way you do not limit yourself in your writing is admirable. I have a lot of trouble keeping myself from editing everything I write down. It is something I am working on.
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