Blog 4 b

PROMPT:: Writing Process


My writing process for academic writing is something that’s rather shabby compared to my writing process for my book writing. For academic writing I only outline if it’s a graded assignment. I only write a rough draft if it’s a graded assignment. For school I don’t really care what I write because I know that I will get a grade no matter what. I know that I can put in half the effort for a paper and still get a decent grade. For papers that I write for school I usually put it off till the weekend before it’s due and sit down and write it start to finish. If it’s a research paper I make sure I have the research beforehand so I can write it start to finish no stopping. The only outline that I have is in my head and I work off of that for papers and other writing assignments. I’ve gotten to the point in my academic writing that I’m comfortable with writing exactly what pops in my head when I’m sitting down writing. The only thing in my writing process that crosses over into my book writing process is the fact that I have to have music on and something to drink or eat nearby. I try to set up my desk area with everything that I know I’ll need for the duration of my writing because I try not to leave the computer because I know it will break my stream of thought. Also I turn off my cell, silent it, or just ignore it all together. Now when I sit down to edit or write my books I have a completely different process. For my book series I have extensive outlines for each book along with back up material that I use. I write down things to keep things constant such as character’s actions, descriptions, places, locations on maps, and so on. When I sit down to write I have a “Writing Tunes” playlist that I always put on because music inspires me and when I have it on it makes writing so much easier. And I always have some sort of yummy drink like coffee, hot chocolate, or soda. Then I write. Some days I have good writing days where I write good and I’m confident that it won’t need a lot of edits while I also have bad writing days where I know it will take a lot of work to polish the scene up. Now I’m trying to think if there was something I did between the good days and the bad days that might have been the reason…… I can’t come up with a blip in my process… but I need to think a wee bit more. But it’s defiantly true that I have two separate writing styles for school and book writing. I think it’s because I put a different amount of value in the types of writings so I put more effort into my book writing because I value it more because I know more people will be reading it. While academic writing I don’t put much more than is required into it because I know my teacher is the only one, and possibly the class that will ever read it.