Writing Process and Reading

All models are wrong, some are useful.

This quote is attributed to statistician George Box. The idea is that all models can only be simplistic versions of complex processes…something will always be missing. However, this imperfection does not render any model useless. Having some window into how things work gets us that much closer to figuring out how some specific thing might work. If there was a perfect model it would not be a model–it would be a full picture into reality, which is unobtainable to any organism.

Here is a model for writing. We start with reading and end with revising (which is also reading). But, revising is also writing…and to make any sense of the reading we are doing, we have to be writing! The snake eat its tail and so on.

So, as a writer, we should always be reading. But as a writer we should always be writing. And as a writer we should always be reading.

A picture of this model would just be a circle, going round and round.

Let me go through some examples:

• Making a reading annotation like “Repeats the idea that with a language they become more than a group of people, they become a culture” when highlighting something from “How to Tame A Wild Tongue.” This reader uses writing to further their understanding of the text and notices a pattern, calls out the “repetition.” The reader sees connections across the text, and writing it out helps solidify it.
• Writing in great depth beyond annotations can help us learn something further. For instance, when a student writes: “Donald Murray describes his own writing process and brings insight into the general writer’s process with examples.  His emphasis is on revision and gauging when to look for completeness in your work.  … I will be choosing ‘moves/movement’ as my specific verb because it is referential to the eye but also to the overall process of writing and revision.  ‘Move’ has a few different definitions, whether it’s a physical action (eyes), a metaphorical action (progression in writing), or a philosophical action (time).” This exploration helps the writer think more and differently about revision by first encountering it in a reading but then writing about it further.
• While we write, we constantly read and re-read our writing to see if it says what we want it, too. This is revision in the short term. In the long term, we re-read full drafts.
• We also give our writing to readers. We do this when we want feedback to then again return to our writing with the aid of the reading of others.
• We put our writing out into the world and people read it. It could lead to further writing on their part and then further reading.

The full writing process is inundated with BOTH writing and reading. We read to gather knowledge, we write to make sense of it, we read our writing to write again, we have others read our writing to write some more, and so on.

Task

Take about 10 minutes and read through a few of your classmates’ blog posts on “How To Tame a Wild Tongue.” Practice your reading/writing integration to learn more about your writing. Following our commenting guidelines, comment on at least 1 of your classmates’ posts.

If you notice any posts without comments, try to go there instead of one with many comments!

Once you have commented, click the below button to continue: