My Writing Process

Inside the Mind of A Pseudo-Procrastinating Partial-Planner

The following body details, in a Q&A-style format, my responses to several questions about my habits and preferences of writing method. I will answer questions regarding how I define my habits as a writer in relation to four archetypes (see Student's Guide pages 38-9) and how I believe I can overcome the shortcomings of my personal writing method in addition to further improving upon the strengths of my process.

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• "What type(s) of writer do you consider yourself to be?"

• I would classify myself as a mix between a "Heavy Planner" and a "Procrastinator."   The description of the Heavy Planner that mentioned the writer's preference for extensive thinking in everyday contexts before taking ideas to paper matched me very well. I typically like to know ahead of time what I will be writing, and then continue through day(s) with a part of my mind playing with the idea of my writing. In fact, I often find myself inspired by random moments of conversation or sights which I plan to later use as creative fuel for my writing. I even keep the best thoughts from such moments preserved in notes in my phone, so I can have them ready when I finally sit down to write. However, as a result of my relaxed planning method, I often end up waiting too long before actually writing my ideas into organized text, which definitely labels me as a Procrastinator.

• "Does your writing process include several of the above approaches? If so, which ones?"

• Yes. Similarly to the description of Heavy Planners, I often will think about my writing across extended periods of time while I'm doing other, non-writing activities. I do this to allow myself to find inspiration in the everyday routines of my life, such as conversation or walks around campus or drives home. Additionally, I procrastinate (as is common for Procrastinators) because I am often reluctant to finally sit down and write, since I always hope for more and more ideas for my writing before I have to sit down and consolidate my thoughts.

• "Does your writing process seem to be successful? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your approach?"

• I do think my writing process is successful for my typical writing purposes. It allows me time to really think-out what I want to say and include in my writing. Without my process, I would fear that I would lack a substantial amount of ideas or central thoughts to write from. I firmly believe that the primary strength of my writing method is that I allow myself time to become inspired and excited (if not a little nervous as well) to write. However, the clear weakness of my approach is that I often lack solid progress and work until the final moments of my writing when I piece all of my thoughts together.

• "Do you think it might be beneficial for you to try a different approach? Why or why not?"

• In all honesty, I do. While it might pain me to admit it, I am often worried by the lack of sustained, solid progress yielded by my method. While I believe being able to think and develop my ideas thoroughly before I write is invaluable, I do think that I could try a more structured, evenly productive method of writing such as that of "Sequential Composers." The only risk I would run with such a method is that I may become worried that any writing I produce would be too set in stone, and would not lend itself to changes in central theme or idea.

Reflection on Other Posts

After reading both Jayni's and Brian's posts on their writing processes, I was genuinely intrigued by how they both approached writing with an emphasis on heavy revision. The primary reason why this was so fascinating to me was because I myself try to avoid the need to make multiple drafts and am not great with self-revision, and thus I respect both of their skills for self-revision. Although there were some differences in the writing processes I read about, such as an emphasis on pre-write planning as opposed to no planning, I definitely believe that I could take a page from other writers and try to draft more to refine my writing.

I also found it very interesting to read about how different writers mentally prepare themselves before beginning to write, but as I believe we each have our own ways of doing so, I think I will remain with my method of seeking inspiration in everyday contexts long before I begin writing - it's my style.