Category: ENG110 Posts

In this section of Anne Lamott’s book, Bird by Bird, she expresses the importance of the drafting process and the different steps that come along with revision. There are multiple parts of the writing process, but the one that is most expressed in Lamott’s writing is the first draft. From the way she puts it, the first draft is built around doing the steps of the writing process, not the product or the quality of work. She says, “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting something — anything — down on paper.” (2) In saying this, she is showing her views on how important it is to draft your writing first, just to get something down and get your thoughts flowing. I am in strong agreement with this idea, I think drafting is a crucial part of producing good writing. I cannot express my thoughts in writing the way I want them to come out without a second, third, sometimes even fourth draft, nonetheless a first. The first draft is important to me because it just opens my eyes to flow onto the paper because starting a writing project is the hardest part for me. No matter the quality of the writing I am putting on the page, it is the most key part of me developing my thoughts. Lamott makes a point that I find very true, she states, “In fact, the only way I can get anything written at all is to write really, really shitty first drafts.” (1) It is a common idea that what a writer writes in a first draft has to be anywhere close to the final product, in fact, some of the time what I write in a first draft changes my views on an idea entirely. 

Leslie Jamison’s essay, “The Devil’s Bait”, captures her interest in an unexplained disease that others are often hesitant to pay any attention to, nonetheless invest themselves in understanding the people it affects every day like Jamison decided she would do. Morgellons Disease, an ailment that presents itself in physical symptoms such as pain, formication, and, the most profound symptom differing the illness from others, fibers protruding from the surface of the skin. Even years after the first case in 2001 and according to the essay some “12,000” other people reporting symptoms of Morgellons, the disease is not taken seriously by many. Scientists, medical professionals, and loved ones first take to blaming mental illness or drugs when first hearing the symptoms these patients are experiencing. Jamison even includes part of a released CDC study surrounding “Unexplained Dermopathy”, and after citing the report stated, “the author suggested, with some delicacy, that patients might be treated for a number of ‘co-existing conditions’, such as drug abuse and psychosomatic disorders.” (65) This is important to realize because some of the patients who have concluded they have the disease have no history with either of these factors. 

Throughout the essay, Jamison discusses her time spent at a Morgellons conference she attended at The Westoak Woods Baptist Church. She tells the stories of some of the people she met there, she explains the differences in their experiences and their symptoms. But throughout all the differences, one effect of the disease that was similar across the board is one which isn’t shown as a physical symptom. It is havoc which the uncertainty of what is going to happen next wreaks on their mental health. Whether it be the fact that they don’t know what symptoms are going to arise or not knowing who is going to believe them when they talk about the illness. Jamison enters the world of the people suffering from a different point of view other than a scientist or doctor. In the field of science, in order to believe something you need to see the proof, real, hard, replicable evidence. Because Leslie Jamison is not a scientist, she’s not a doctor, not a researcher, but an interested novelist. A researcher who Jamison came in touch with told her this, “When I heard of your interest, I felt genuine hope that the real story would be told accurately and sensitively.” (70) By including this in her essay, Jamison is representing how researchers and doctors have to stick to the facts because that is the base of their profession, and how this may be a drive for her and others to be passionate about learning all aspects of the story.

Paraphrasing and summary are crucial aspects of writing analysis, but despite their importance, the two are often mixed up. The main difference between summarizing and paraphrasing is the way you present the information given in the text. When paraphrasing, you as the writer are taking the authors ideas directly from the text as they are written. Though the paraphrased text is the same idea, it is often shorter than the original because it is a condensed version of the original writer’s thoughts. The summary is a bit different, you are still explaining a text that has already been written but you are putting it into your own words. This is why you have to cite your source when you are paraphrasing but not when summarizing, because the summary is completely your own thoughts. Summary is important because it shows that you spent time reading the text and analyzing so you are able to express it in the way you viewed it. Though the two are different from one another, they are both important to writing, especially academic writing. If you are trying to get a reader to listen to something you are expressing through writing, summary is a good way to give background on a subject they may not know of, and in addition to your own personal view of the text, paraphrasing directly from the source backs up what you’re saying to take any possible view of bias out of the question.

In the TED Talk by Chimamanda Adichie, the Nigerian Novelist discusses how people view ways of life from around the world that are not their own, and the dangers of not being able to open our eyes to see everyone’s true stories. Her idea of hearing “a single story” as she puts it, and basing the way we look at a specific person or group of people because of a single story, is a viewpoint that we need to move away from. This is something that is not discussed much even though it ties into so many different parts of our lives; literature, political issues, personal relationships, world views. The way we see people and think about their stories affects the way we treat other people, so why are we so quick to listen to a story and believe it? Adichie uses her trip to Mexico as an example. She traveled to Guadalajara, Mexico, and viewed real people the way that they really live their lives. In the media, we are constantly bombarded with other people’s views and opinions that we accept them as our own before we even know the full story. The example of Mexican immigration is an excellent example of this that many people can relate to. Adichie stated, “So that is how to create a single story, show a people as one thing, as only one thing, over and over again, and that is what they become.” In saying this, she is expressing how important it is to not be so quick to see an entire group of people just because of one way someone has seen them as.

Adichie has adopted this value into her way of life, using her influences in literature to push this idea of the single-story viewpoint. This is a way of looking at people that I hope someday because of people spreading their word, their stories, more people are able to use in their own ways of looking at others. A powerful quote from Adichie that showed me how the views of other people we have affect them,“Stories matter. Many stories matter. Stories have been used to dispossess and to malign, but stories can also be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity.” This exemplifies the strength of a story about others, the effects it has on one’s culture or way of life, and puts it into a compare and contrast viewpoint that could be beneficial in getting others to think about it in a similar manner. 

In my writing process, I rely heavily on the revision part of the process, especially the peer revision portion. I enjoy being able to just do what I can for writing, get my thoughts down, and then being able to go back and sort out my ideas. This portion I do several times on my own, but then eventually have a friend or a classmate read it over and incorporate their ideas to strengthen my own. This pushes me out of my comfort zone by letting someone read my work, but I know it makes me a better person and writer in the long run. Everyone has their own thoughts and ideas on how things work and having someone giving feedback to your ideas on paper only helps strengthen my ideas.

In my junior year, we did a project called the “American Author” project. For this year-long assignment, we had to choose an author from America from some point in time, past or present, and we had to read three books that they wrote. For each book we read, we had to write an essay briefly summarizing the book, analyze what we thought was the moral behind the story, the themes found within the book, and the author’s purpose in writing the book. We wrote three of these and one final paper, going more in-depth in analyzing and discussing overall themes in his books. The peer revision process was pushed very hard on us when we were in the process of writing these papers, and I am very glad it was. This was where I really developed an understanding of the importance of revision and having others view your work. This not only helped me make my work better quality but talking about it out loud and thinking about it helped me analyze my author’s thoughts and ideas. Because of the deeper understanding, it allowed me to explore more complex analysis’ of his works in my following papers. Jenks talks about the importance of revision all throughout his article, but a quote that stood out to me was “the strength and worth of work depend on deliberate artistry as much as, if not more than, the writer’s talent, desire, and inspirations.” (2) I hold these words high because that idea of practice makes perfect is applicable to so many different aspects of life, whether it be in the classroom, on the field, playing an instrument anything you could think of. Repetition of the work is the best way to solidify a skill and get to where you want to be. 

In Jenks “Category of Revision” section, one of the bullets he hits is revising transitions. Whenever I revise a paper, especially if I just write and I’m going back through to organize my thoughts, transitions are one of the things that I have to touch up every time. A lot of people have trouble with this concept in writing, this is where you have to think and analyze the deeper thoughts of the author through their writing, and use that to link your own thoughts together in paragraphs. I liked how he explained the importance of transitions, he explained: “casually assumes the reader’s intimacy with the story and fails to provide necessary direction and orientation.” (3) If the way your writing is set up without clear transitions to put together everything you are trying to get across to the reader, it will just appear as a bunch of your jumbled thoughts. This is why transitions are one of the crucial elements of writing that I am constantly thinking about throughout my revision process.