This is my second blog assignment for my English Composition class. In this blog, I will set a scene for a writers' roundtable discussion about the writing process on the basis of the three readings. I provided the links below, so if you are interested in, please check them.
That night, I fell asleep as soon as I got home because I was very tired from adapting myself to new environment. However, I suddenly wake up in the middle of the night and could not go back to sleep. Thus, I decided to take a walk in the neighborhood for a while. After a few minutes, I found a nice bar that I had never seen before. In fact, I turned 21 years old just a few months ago, so I decided to enter the bar. Inside the bar, I heard a smooth jazz music. Also, I noticed that some people were having a lively conversation at a table. Surprisingly, they were Don Murray, Mary Karr, and Anne Lamott. Then, I realized that I was having a dream because Donn Murray passed away in 2006. However, I thought it was a good opportunity to get some advice relate to writing from them, so I found courage to speak to them. First, I introduced myself briefly and asked them, “What is the most important thing about writing?” Donn Murray answered, “No matter how careful our criticisms, they do not help the student since when we teach composition we are not teaching a product, we are teaching a process." After I got the advice, I associated my teacher Dr. Sabatino Mangini with the idea. This is because he told us the same thing in the first class, so I talked about him for a short while. Then he smiled at me. Mary Karr agreed with his idea and said, “Writing is painful—it’s “fun” only for novices, the very young, and hacks.” I did not want to know the harsh reality, but I accepted it. Anne Lamott also agreed with Donn Murray's idea and said, “Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts.” Moreover, she added, “Very few writers really know what they are doing until they’ve done it.” I was encouraged a little bit from her words. Next, I asked them, “Is there any technique to be able to improve my writing skill?” Donn Murray answered, "Mechanics come last. It is important to the writer, once he has discovered what he has to say, that nothing get between him and his reader." Mary Karr nodded silently and said, "The best revisers often have reading habits that stretch back before the current age, which lends them a sense of history and raises their standards for quality." In the middle of the conversation, I thought I would not be able to remember all the advice. Thus, I started to taking a note. Finally, I asked them, "What is the writing process?" Donn Murray answered, "The writing process itself can be divided into three stages: prewriting, writing, and rewriting." Anne Lamott agreed with his idea and added, “A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft – you just get it down. The second draft is the up draft – you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it’s loose or cramped or decayed, or even, God help us, healthy." Mary Karr chuckled at her remark and said, "For me, the last 20 percent of a book’s improvement takes 95 percent of the effort—all in the editing." After I finished taking a note, I tried to ask them one more question, but unfortunately, I awoke from my dream at that point.
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Yuki YamatoI will use this blog Archives
December 2019
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