Welcome back! This is my second blog for my English Composition class. In this assignment, I had to read and annotate three articles discussing the writing process. After reading the articles, I had to create a scene where I discuss writing with the authors and use three quotes from each of them. I had a fun time tapping into my creative side where I was able to have a frozen yogurt date with Don Murray, Anne Lammott, and Mary Karr. I’m happy I was able to read these pieces because it really opened up my eyes to how writing is a constant process and you’ll have to push yourself through stages of writing and rewriting. I’ll provide links to the articles below and I encourage checking them out!
Teaching Writing as a Process Not Product (Don Murray) Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life (Anne Lamott) Against Vanity: In Praise of Revision (Mary Karr) Ahh. It’s a lovely spring day, it’s about 60 degrees outside with a slight breeze and the sun is quietly peeking out behind the clouds that flow overhead. The perfect weather to take a stroll into the hustle and bustle of town to grab some delicious frozen yogurt. Mango mixed with a little bit of tart and topped with rainbow sprinkles, my favorite! As I walk on down to Yogurt City, I get overcome with anxiety about my blog I should be typing for my English class. How do I start writing? What should I even write about? Can I just push it off to the last minute and pray for a good grade? I’ve never been the best at writing, but I’m sure some frozen yogurt will clear my writer’s block. I finally make it in the shop after a 15 minute walk of second guessing my options for this assignment, when I overhear a rather intelligent point being made, “And once you can look at your composition program with the realization you are teaching a process, you may be able to design a curriculum which works.” I quickly turned my head to see three intuitive adults munching on froyo. I soon recognized the man who caught my attention with that fabulous point, it was Don Murray. He was discussing his idea on the writing process with two women who seemed to be very intrigued with his points, as with their tasty treats. I went into stalker mode while scooping my toppings so I could figure out who else was at this table I desperately needed to be at. After dumping the chocolate chips all over the topping station and being scolded by the teenage staff member for my carelessness, I realized it was Mary Karr and Anne Lamott! I need to find a way to weasel in this conversation, I need advice on my blog! I tried to come up with a casual way to approach this situation, but I soon swallowed my pride and made my way over to this table of winners. I was starstuck as all three looked up at me with quizzical looks on their faces and I realized I should probably speak. “Uh hi, I overheard your comment on the writing process and I thought it was brilliant. I’m stuck on a blog assignment I need to work on for class tomorrow and I figured you guys could help me,” I spat out with a small smile of hope. The three looked at each other and soon broke into huge smiles. I knew I was in. Anne grabbed a nearby chair and patted it, signalling me to sit down and start asking questions. “So I always thought of writing to be a one-way shot, you’re good or you’re not,” and I could tell I screwed up by the look of disgust on their faces. I quickly try to redeem myself by spitting out, “But there’s a lot more to it then writing one draft and having it be the one you’ll stick by.” Don let out a sigh of relief while taking a bite of his chocolate froyo and enlightened me, “The writing process itself can be divided into three stages: prewriting, writing, and rewriting.” I could tell Anne agreed as she leaned forward and whispered, “Now, practically even better news than that of short assignments is the idea of shitty first drafts. All good writers write them. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts.” I was in awe at her profanity, and she let out chuckle and followed up with, “The first draft is the child’s draft, where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it and that you can shape it later.” I enjoyed her point of view on the first draft. Don chimed in, “Writing is the act of producing a first draft. It is the fastest part of the process, and the most frightening, for it is a commitment. When you complete a draft you know how much, and how little, you know.” I wish I had brought a notebook to write this stuff down! “Now I always thought revising your essay can be a lengthy process but a good one, is that true? Do all struggling authors need that stage?” I questioned the group. “Revision is the secret to their troubles - and yours. That, and a sense of quality that exceeds what you can do - that gives you something to strive for,” Mary Karr took the lead on that question. “Actually, every writer needs two selves - the generative self and the editor self.” Interesting. I never thought about having different selves. I had one more question I wanted to ask before I get going on my blog, “I’ve heard that having people look over your writing can be a risky choice. I always enjoyed getting feedback, I think it helps me see what I do and don’t need. Any thoughts on that?” I could tell that Anne and Mary had some ideas by the way their faces lit up with excitement. Anne took the floor first, “I always show my work to one of two people before sending a copy to my editor or agent. I feel more secure and connected this way, and these two people get a lot of good work out of me.” I was jealous of her, she had people she could turn to, I frowned and whispered, “What if you don’t have anyone to read your paper?” Mary leaned forward and touched my hand in a comforting way, “Even the smallest towns have coffee shop bulletin boards or community centers with a writer’s workshop now. Even the less good groups can help you by speaking for your potential reader - they’re way better than the echo chamber of your own head.” I felt a sudden burst of inspiration after discussing my options with this wonderful group! I thanked them for the help and finished up my frozen dessert and ran all the way home to finish my project! I felt so good about writing, it felt somewhat wrong.
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Hello. Welcome to the first blog of many for my English Composition class. Our first assignment was to answer The Proust Questionnaire, which is thirty-five questions written by Marcel Proust. Proust was a French writer who believed that when filling out this questionnaire, one’s true personality was shown. I had a fun time answering these questions and I suggest checking it out for yourself at the link below.
The Proust Questionnaire _1.__What is your idea of perfect happiness? My perfect idea of happiness would have to be having a daily routine I stick to religiously. Waking up early, having a light breakfast, going to the gym for about an hour, showering and taking care of my skin, getting ready to go to school or work, having a healthy lunch, getting home and eating a prepared healthy dinner, and either reading or watching tv for an hour. I would kill to have a routine. __2.__What is your greatest fear? My greatest fear would have to be dying. It’s scary and it can be painful, and we don’t know what’ll happen. I think I’m just afraid to not exist. __3.__What is the trait you most deplore in yourself? I have no self control. I can sit on my butt all day long and do absolutely nothing. I’ll think about stuff I should be doing or stuff I could be doing and I just don’t. __4.__What is the trait you most deplore in others? I would have to say, most people are selfish and that’s what I hate. They only think and do things for themselves, and they don’t realize that there are more people out there who have it worse than they do. __5.__Which living person do you most admire? My mom. She’s been through a lot. She didn’t have a good relationship with her mother, she was always a second-thought or people didn’t take her seriously, she had a miscarriage, she has been told by all four of us kids that she was annoying, awful, bitchy, etc., and then she got cut off by her oldest and only son. However, she still manages to wake up and work her 3 jobs everyday, take care of the dogs, and do housework in under 24 hours. That to me is very admiring. __6.__What is your greatest extravagance? FOOD. I love food! I love going out and spending $30+ on dinner for me and my boyfriend. I don’t know why but I can’t control that! __7.__What is your current state of mind? My current state of mind is like a bowl of noodles. It’s just a bunch of mush. __8.__What do you consider the most overrated virtue? I really have no idea. __9.__On what occasion do you lie? I feel like I don’t lie that much anymore, but I will bend the truth a bit at work so I don’t get backhanded by my manager. __10.__What do you most dislike about your appearance? My stomach and my face. My stomach is weird, sometimes it’s thin and sometimes it’s not. And my face is just awkward, my mouth can’t smile and I feel like my eyes look beady. __11.__Which living person do you most despise? I can’t really think of one. I guess I can’t stand talk show hosts, they’re just annoying and talk about the lamest stuff or have really stupid “games.” __12.__What is the quality you most like in a man? Being reasonable. My last relationship was so awful because my ex and I could never argue reasonably and it could get scary. __13.__What is the quality you most like in a woman? Confidence. When I’m around a woman who’s confident, it definitely rubs off on me and makes me feel better about myself. __14.__Which words or phrases do you most overuse? “Dude” and “like” especially when I’m with my best friend. I’ll facetime her and we’ll talk about our boyfriends or something that someone did and it sounds something like this, “Dude like I know, I was so mad dude, like how dare he do that?” __15.__What or who is the greatest love of your life? Ryan. I don’t think my heart has ever been more content in a relationship, actually I don’t think, I know. Everything with him came so easy and it just fits perfect. He makes me want to be a better person and he believes in me more than myself or anyone else. But also hummus is good. __16.__When and where were you happiest? I’ve had a lot of happy moments in my life, but one of the most recents was when Ryan and I spent our first weekend together. We had nice dinners and we were barely on our phones. It was just amazing spending so much time with him and not having to leave his side. Lame, I know. __17.__Which talent would you most like to have? I would love to play an instrument. I really don’t even care what one, it would just be cool to be able to make music. __18.__If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be? My weight, if I was ten pounds lighter, I would be happy. __19.__What do you consider your greatest achievement? I can’t really think of one. __20.__If you were to die and come back as a person or a thing, what would it be? I would want to come back as an animal, perhaps an aquatic animal but I don’t know how I would feel about living underwater forever. So maybe a jaguar or a panther, they’re so sleek and sneaky. __21.__Where would you most like to live? Somewhere close to a city and somewhere warm. __22.__What is your most treasured possession? I don’t own anything too expensive or crazy, but the necklace I got for Christmas is probably the only thing I would be really upset about if it broke or went missing. __23.__What do you regard as the lowest depth of misery? Probably Fall and Winter of 2017 into 2018, it was an awful time mentally and emotionally for me. __24.__What is your favorite occupation? I miss working at Pizza Hut, it was my first job and I loved how carefree it was, but never eat there, it’s gross. __25.__What is your most marked characteristic? I have no idea. I feel like I can be a lot of different people so I feel like picking one wouldn’t be true because I’m a different person with everyone else. __26.__What do you most value in your friends? Humor. I need a friend who can laugh at themselves and laugh at me. __27.__Who are your favorite writers? Well, JK Rowling because I love Harry Potter. But Alice Sebold is interesting as well, I read the Lovely Bones and I fell in love with it. __28.__Who is your hero of fiction? Jack from Lost. I love him, he’s so selfless and very cute. __29.__Which historical figure do you most identify with? I can’t really think of anyone I relate to. __30.__Who are your heroes in real life? The unsung heroes who make a mean pineapple chicken at Sake Hana. I wish I could thank them personally. __31.__What are your favorite names? My favorite guy names would have to be Oliver or Liam, but I like Desmond as well. My favorite girl names would be Eleanor or Vivian. __32.__What is it that you most dislike? When I get out of the shower in the morning and it’s freezing, and all the hair I just shaved off grows back because of the goosebumps. __33.__What is your greatest regret? My greatest regret would have to be not sticking with an instrument growing up and sticking around with my ex boyfriend in high school, he was trash. __34.__How would you like to die? Perhaps in my sleep. I don’t want to die from an illness that’s for sure. __35.__What is your motto? I really don’t know. My motto changes everyday, but my view on life changes all the time. I guess my motto would have to be: stuff changes? |
Julia PeabodyThis is my zone Archives
April 2019
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