Comments on: my writing process http://michaeljfaris.com/blog/2006/01/my-writing-process/ rhetorics, compositions, technologies, literacies, sexualities Wed, 25 Jan 2012 19:05:46 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.2.1 By: Lisa Ede http://michaeljfaris.com/blog/2006/01/my-writing-process/comment-page-1/#comment-41 Lisa Ede Tue, 07 Feb 2006 21:28:53 +0000 http://oregonstate.edu/~farism/blog/?p=72#comment-41 Hi again, Michael, Here's a quick comment on reading and posting on your blog. I actually type more easily and quickly than I hand write, so I like that. What I just realized, though, is that I'm reading your entries in reverse chronological order. I guess if I'd thought about it I could have read them in the order you wrote them, but I'd have had to move around differently in your blog. I appreciate your comments on revision, and your fear that you're a hypocrite because you ask your students to revise when you don't revise all that substantially. But let's get a little common sense here. Is there anyone who wants to revise for revision's sake? Wouldn't we all like to write drafts that are pretty darn good. Just FYI my friend and coauthor Andrea Lunsford despises revision. She's a heavy planner (more on that later) and often works out both major and minor details of essays and book chapters in her head before dictating. Her graduate students at Ohio State were very aware of her and used to refer to her as "Andrea--product, not process--Lunsford." It is important to be aware of your proclivities as a writer and to know their strengths and limitations. For the first edition of my textbook Work in Progress--I'm working on the 7th ed. now--I developed three categories of writers: Heavy planners--they do most of their work in their heads. Andrea's a classic example. Heavy revisers--they have to do huge amounts of writing before they even have a vague sense of what they want to do/say. Chris Anderson is a classic example of this. Sequential compoesers--they have to have more of a sense of direction and control than heavy revisers, but they can't work as much out in their heads as heavy planners. I put myself in this category, and you may be in it too. There's a copy of my textbook in the Writing Center, and there's a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each general composing preference--and believe me they each have advantages and disadvantages. Lisa Hi again, Michael,
Here’s a quick comment on reading and posting on your blog. I actually type more easily and quickly than I hand write, so I like that. What I just realized, though, is that I’m reading your entries in reverse chronological order. I guess if I’d thought about it I could have read them in the order you wrote them, but I’d have had to move around differently in your blog.

I appreciate your comments on revision, and your fear that you’re a hypocrite because you ask your students to revise when you don’t revise all that substantially. But let’s get a little common sense here. Is there anyone who wants to revise for revision’s sake? Wouldn’t we all like to write drafts that are pretty darn good.

Just FYI my friend and coauthor Andrea Lunsford despises revision. She’s a heavy planner (more on that later) and often works out both major and minor details of essays and book chapters in her head before dictating. Her graduate students at Ohio State were very aware of her and used to refer to her as “Andrea–product, not process–Lunsford.”

It is important to be aware of your proclivities as a writer and to know their strengths and limitations. For the first edition of my textbook Work in Progress–I’m working on the 7th ed. now–I developed three categories of writers:

Heavy planners–they do most of their work in their heads. Andrea’s a classic example.

Heavy revisers–they have to do huge amounts of writing before they even have a vague sense of what they want to do/say. Chris Anderson is a classic example of this.

Sequential compoesers–they have to have more of a sense of direction and control than heavy revisers, but they can’t work as much out in their heads as heavy planners. I put myself in this category, and you may be in it too.

There’s a copy of my textbook in the Writing Center, and there’s a discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of each general composing preference–and believe me they each have advantages and disadvantages.

Lisa

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