“Introduction to Composing as a Process” Summary
Pulitzer-winning writing professor Donald Murray once stated that “Writing is a process, not a product”. This is completely true; no one can achieve their finished work without getting help from others and revising it. The writing process starts with exploring, planning, drafting, and then revising. This cycle is repeated over and over again until writers are satisfied with the end product.
“Freewriting” Summary
Freewriting sounds as carefree as it seems. It is a time where you can write about anything and not have to think twice about your word choices or grammar. What you write may not necessarily make sense, but that is the whole point of freewriting. It may serve as a stress reliever or just an exercise to improve your writing. When you freewrite, you are not supposed to edit your work, just continue to write. Over time, the freewriting exercise will make your writing more cohesive.
“Shitty First Drafts” Summary
Writing bad drafts are a must in order to create the perfect writing piece. This is the beginning stage to get out all your ideas onto the page without anyone judging you. Sometimes it is hard to accept that after the first one or two drafts, you still have no idea what direction you want to take your writing. It is okay to feel frustrated because that exactly what drafts are: something to perfect over and over again.
Response
I agree that freewriting and writing drafts are an important first step to creating a fantastic writing piece. You are not expected to bang out a perfect essay in one sitting. It has been very helpful to me in the past to get a different perspective on what I am writing about through peer edits. For me, I jumble a good amount of my words when writing an essay, so I like experimenting with different words and ideas at in the draft-writing stage.