My Writing Process

I’ve always thought of writing as a flower. In sixth grade, my English teacher, Mrs. Gilliam, had asked the class to think of metaphors to describe the writing process. My two favorite comparisons that my brain can recall are the salad bowl and the flower. In my amateur writing, I remember describing writing as, “Just like a flower takes time to bloom, writing takes lots of patience and drafts. But the end process is beautiful, just like how a flower turns out.”

And so it has always been this way for me—a LONG process that entails LOTS of patience. First of all, as I am doing now, I like to write down my drafts. As old school as I am, I let my thoughts flow on paper and be written by a pen, not the keyboard. I would say that like Anne Lamott, I definitely write AMAZING shitty drafts. If you could see my paper now, you’d see the many scratches, the terrible spelling, and the numerous side notes.

It’s almost like going for a run. When I first start out writing, I somehow ALMOST always feel frustrated, even a little incapable of writing well about whatever topic. But then, as the words form and my inner voice starts forming thoughts and ideas, I start feeling a sort of adrenaline rush—an exigency to keep going. Similarly, after a good 15 minutes of running, I become refreshed energized as I sweat bullets all over my body. After 15 minutes of intense focusing on writing, my brain gets excited and as long as I am making SOME progress, I feel good.

Another part of my writing process is that I LOVE to write outside in the nature. It’s inspirational and helps me think of metaphors and similes. After writing the first draft on paper, I then type it up. I find this quite beneficial as when I am typing, I make more additions and corrections as needed. So I’d say that I follow the traditional writing process as I then I make revisions to my first draft. Again, I prefer to edit on paper, not on the computer. Additionally, I really prefer numerous people reading my drafts to get as much feedback as possible. My final piece has to be read by me many times before submission—something I can truly value and turn in to be read by someone else.

A detriment to my writing is that I really, really cannot write last minute or under pressure. It continues to amaze me that sports writers or journalists are continually writing on some intense deadlines, especially the articles that must be published two minutes after a game. However, I do hope that one day I would have the ability to form ideas at such an amazing speed.