“Instead of teaching finished writing, we should teach
unfinished writing, and glory in its unfinishedness. We work with language in
action.”
-Donald Murray
A phrase you might hear at the Writing
Center is “rough drafts are rough for a reason.” We tell students this all the
time. We may have even told you that your rough draft can be messy. It can
include all of the no-nos that your professor hates, such as comma splices,
run-on sentences, and citation format errors. We want you to free your mind from the
baggage that weighs you down when writing.
We too have difficulty writing when we
focus on sentence-level issues. We know that we should worry about forming our
ideas before fretting over how they sound on paper. When writing, I take
comfort in Murray’s words that encourage me to “glory in its unfinishedness” and
“discover through language” (4). One method that I use to form my ideas is to
freewrite. When I freewrite, I know that it can be messy; I realize that I will
probably write to find my best ideas. I use it as a means of discovery to find
out what I actually want to say. I normally find my best ideas at the end of
freewriting, then I use these ideas to create my rough draft, and then I revise
as necessary.
Nonetheless, we also know reality. We know
that writing eventually must include our ideas and be as error-free as possible.
The writing process breaks down the
looming task of writing into smaller phases from start to finish. Most scholars
agree that the writing process includes three major steps: prewriting, writing,
and revising. Murray defines these steps as follows: “Prewriting is everything that takes place before the first draft; writing
is the act of producing the first draft; and rewriting is reconsideration of
subject, form, and audience. It is researching, rethinking, redesigning,
rewriting—and finally, line-by-line editing” (4). The suggestions that we make at the Writing Center reflect the basic steps of the writing process.
Brainstorming, freewriting, messy ideas on
paper—these are all part of the prewriting and writing process. Just get your
ideas down on paper. Period. Then revise. By following these steps, you will
free your mind from the cage that you create when trying to do everything at
once.
Next time you visit the Writing Center,
you may find this subtle, yet essential teaching happening in our sessions. We
work with students in all stages of the writing process, from brainstorming to
final revision. We’d love for you to visit us.
Murray, Donald. "Teach writing as a process not
product." Cross-Talk in
Comp Theory. 3rd Ed.
Eds.
Victor
Villanueva and Kristin Arola. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachers of
English,
2011.
3-6. Print.
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