When given a writing assignment, I have tended to scan over it, perhaps a day or two before actually doing the assignment, to give myself some insight on what it'll be about and the tasks required. Then, when I sit down to do the assignment, I think of a good title for the MLA paper or essay, and then start writing. I pause to research small tidbits about the assignment or look at the tasks again, but there isn't really much stopping during the writing process for me. However, I write very slowly and cautiously in this situation, so it balances out the little time I would spend pausing and researching. Compared to the Writing Process as presented by the course, though, I think my interpretation is a little different. Rather than pausing in the middle to do the research, the Writing Process as presented so far suggests that all research be done up front, so that you can then write without stopping after you've completed the research. I think this could be a more efficient way to write if used properly.
The writing style I use is similar to the Writing Process in the way that it involves a large bit of forethought and preparation in order for the final writing to come out good. Just as I look over the assignment a day or two before I actually do it, the Writing Process suggests that a task should be examined and prepared before the writing for that task is actually done. There have been a few number of times, however, where I have done the brunt of the research before beginning the writing itself, but came back for the little details and less important parts during the writing. In other words, I have never really done 100% of the research before the writing began. I did notice, however, that it took me less time to write the essay when I did some of the research before the writing.
As mentioned above, I think I could be lots more successful in writing assignments if I adjusted the writing process so that I did all of the research up front. For daily writing, there isn't any research required, of course, so I would think about what I wanted to say in an email, for example, or in a story I'm writing, perhaps a few hours before I would sit down and write it. I think it's important that you write no longer than four or five hours after brainstorming the idea, since leaving it too long might result in the forgetting of what your idea was, which I've had happen a few times. For emails, I would get a topic or idea for something (perhaps a question or a request) that I would want to send to somebody, and then I would go and write that a few hours later, just like with the story. That way, I wouldn't be stopping and pausing when writing the email (or the story, for that matter.)
And that is all for Writer's Journal #5.
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