While reading these pages I wondered :
Have all of us experienced the frustartion during writing that Elbow describes?
At this level in our academic lives, how many still do?
Would those who feel successful share their strategies with us?
Elbow's "organic" suits my natural tendancies, but I never thought that such a seemingly haphazard process would be given approval much lesss encouragement. Nodding with familiarity through many passages, ( I am exceedingly good at the disorientation and chaos part of the writing process) I was particularly struck by those about his being most satisfied with products that "grew" rather than with those predetermined by outlines. This has been my experience as well.
For me, his most intimidating advice was to write a 3 page paper three times in a 3 hour period rather than writing it once. Writing one paper one time within the time frame alotted creates significant anxiety--- so this suggestion seems daunting! I would however give it a try to see if my writing improved.
When I read the just-right word he used on page 24 "entropy," I wondered if it came during an organic session, and questioned what other words had been tossed to make room for this final fit. For me trying to find just the right word slows my writing too.
Janis
1 comment:
I was also less-than-thrilled when I read Elbow's idea of writing the same paper multiple times - what student has time for that!?
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