Blog 5: Giovanelli, Lawson

Before reading the pieces, I would describe my ideal writing process as a multi-draft process where each time I write a new draft, the piece gets better. My ideal writing process starts with brainstorming and outlining to make sure I have some ideas of what I’m going to be writing about before I start the first draft. Then I write the first draft, where I try to get as much of what I want to say about the topic on the page. After writing the first draft, I read it over or have a friend read it over to see what works and what doesn’t. I look for problems with clarity, flow, repetition, etc. Next, I write a second draft using the improvements I thought of and the feedback I was given. I also revise this draft when it is done to see if there is any other changes and improvements I should make. Before I submit the piece of writing, I re-read it to make sure there are no spelling or grammatical errors. This is my ideal process because multiple drafts/revisions allows one’s writing to improve so that the message they are trying to get across is as clear as they can make it.

After reading the pieces, my ideal writing process was added on to. In “Strong Writing and Writers Don’t Need Revisions” by Laura Giovanelli from Bad Ideas about Writing, Giovanelli explains that revision is as integral to writing as writing is. She debunks the idea that only inexperienced writers need revision. She shows that every writer needs revision, even professional writers can write as many as 463 drafts. Another important point she makes is that revising isn’t about making tiny changes, it is crucial to strive for a “wholesale overhaul of [one’s] argument and [one’s] larger work” (Giovanelli, 105). This adds to my writing process because it is important that writers don’t just revise for revising’s sake, they need to think critically about and be willing to change the main ideas in their writing if they need to. Although the second piece, “I Have A Sleep Disorder and It’s Probably Going to Kill Me or Someone Else” from Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson, is very entertaining, at first I wasn’t exactly sure what it had to do with the writing process. I think it shows the importance of getting feedback from other people, as Lawson decides to leave in some of her editors comments, as if they are having a conversation within the text. Getting constructive criticism from someone else is crucial for the writing process because an outside perspective can help a writer catch parts that may make sense to the writer but aren’t coming through the same way to the reader. In conclusion, these two pieces re-emphasized and built upon aspects of my ideal writing process: revising and getting feedback.