For the most part, I still write in the same way that I did at the beginning of the semester. It still must be silent. Pins should be able to drop and I should jump at the sound of their “ping” against the floor. But, I have noticed that it essentially takes me an entire day to write a paper. I still start at the very beginning, like Maria in The Sound of Music, but I seem to be in this routine of writing a few sentences, maybe a paragraph, taking a 10-15min break, surfing the internet/listening to music/watching videos on YouTube, reading what I wrote and then proceeding to the next grouping of sentences. I’ll be the very first to admit that these little breaks add up and this is definitely not the most time-efficient way to write a paper. Yet, I just can’t seem to sit and write until the paper is done and at the same time, I can’t stand the thought of writing part of the paper and then coming back to it in a few hours or even the next day. It’s as if I have so many thoughts and ideas running around in my head, like little preschool children, that I need time to let them run around and then decide how they should line up after recess before getting cookies. And at times, this process gets very frustrating because of how long it takes, but I can’t seem to force my brain to work any differently. But, on the plus side, this process does not apply to writing my blogs and these blogs have become a lot easier and less tedious to write.
Looking more at the content of my writing, I still need to work on not using the passive voice. While I have always thought that it is a good thing to use because it shows that, as the writer, I sound as if I have credibility (an authority), I see that it can make for a less interactive paper that doesn’t necessarily show, but primarily tells. I also think I need to continue to improve my narrative voice, so that the reader sees more of “me” in the paper. However, I’m not entirely sure when I’m going to have the opportunity to practice this next because I’m not sure that my other classes will expect this specific writing style (as in paper #1) in my papers.
But, while taking some time to reflect of my writing “career” over this semester, I can’t help but go back to a quote I used in my first blog because I still feel that it applies all too well to writing. So, as Yogi Berra once said,
“99% of the game is half mental.”
