(Michael Brigando) Writing as a Process

In The Intoduction to Composing as a Process, Seth Graves e plains how writing is as much a skill as any other talent that can be learned. Such a skill must be honed and maintained with frequent practice in order to get the most out of it. It also explains how writing from the very first word in the first draft to the very final word in the final draft is all part of the process of writing, which brings us the the next section, Shitty First Drafts, by Anne Lamott. Lamott pretty much explains the first part of the writing process, which is the first draft, and how it doesnt have to be coherent whatsoever. The first draft serves as way to get all of your ideas out onto paper, with no filter. The filtering process happens after, when you’re reading over the draft, looking for ideas and pitches that are capable of composing an acceptable piece. Lamott then explains how this process helped her with her writings some years back. One thing she emphasizes is that the first draft is usually going to be really bad and incoherent in some areas. One has to get used to writing everything with no filter in order to get the most out of the first draft, which brings us into the next section, Freewriting, by Peter Elbow. Elbow shows the audience just how to hone a skill such as writing with no filter whatsoever, and that is to just take some time out of the day to write nonstop. In fact, that’s the only rule- never stop writing, no matter what. Elbow then goes on to explain why such a process is useful, which ties back to the fact that the biggest difference between writing and speech is that we edit a bit without really noticing it as we write. As we multitask between editing and writing, we can’t properly focus alone on our thoughts, which can create a writer’s block.
I don’t think I’ve ever realized just how much can go into creating a piece of writing. For me, a first draft was like a “write it as if it were the final draft, as best as you can,” type of deal, and then I’d review it, and make a few changes where it was needed, but that’s it. My drafts and final works would be very similar to each other. Learning about other processes such as this one can really open one’s mind about just how some people do it. And with Freewriting, I’ve always knew about freewriting. My teacher in 8th grade even had the class practice freewriting, but I dont ever think i fully got it down until realizing that I can’t have any filter on whatsoever. It was pretty hard to do, until I realized that no one’s ever going to read this, and that it’s supposed to be incoherent.