What do you do when you write? What makes you focus? How do you know that you are
done? Every person has a different writing style process one that is unique to them.
Whenever writing a paper or an essay, one has to write a rough draft first. “When
students complete a first draft, they consider the job of writing done.” (Donald M. Murray) I
admit that I am one of these students. I have written too many essays throughout high school to
count and I considered my writing to be done after I finished my draft. I didn’t go back in to add
more information or take some things out. Usually I would leave it as it is and hope for the best.
Sometimes I wouldn’t even reread my work, I’d just have someone read it for me and tell me
their opinion about the work.
My writing style has changed a little. I only finished high school 2 years ago but to me
that seems like a long time. After graduating high school, I started my own personal blog. I’ve
always liked to write and I’ve been told I’m pretty good at it. In high school, I got college credit
for both English classes I took due to my essays. I’ve never really thought much about it until I
noticed how I approach an essay. “Each can be changed and rearranged, can set off a chain
reaction of confusion or clarified meaning. This is a different kind of reading, which is possibly
more difficult and certainly more exciting.” (Donald M. Murray) When I look at someone’s
essay I detach myself and read it as their audience. I try to understand what they’re trying to say
or what point they’re trying to make. When I attended college on campus my first year, all my
friends would come to me to correct their essays. Though I don’t know why (I was never that
interested in writing to pursue a career in it) I can see where things belong in an essay, sort of
like a puzzle. Whether they belong in the beginning or in the third body paragraph. To me this
has become something like second hand nature. Reading an essay or an outline, I know where
things belong and how to rearrange it to make it all fit together.
One thing that has always bothered me about my writing process is the rereading step.
“They are overly critical, think everything is dreadful, tear up page after page, never complete a
draft, see the task as hopeless.” (Donald M. Murray) One reason I hated rereading my work is
because I’ll end up throwing it away. I use to criticize every little aspect of it and every single
word until I end up with a blank page. Though this has changed a lot over the last two years, I
still remember how I dreaded writing an essay because it would take a substantial amount of