The Wonderful World of Process.

Oh my. Writing process. Hmm.

My writing process, I have found, is severely enhanced by caffeine. At least, it has been recently. The problem is, I can't drink coffee, and I don't like soda. 80% of the time, I cannot work in complete silence. There has to be some sort of music or noise, a constant noise, otherwise my ears will perk up at every passing car or fly buzzing on the wall. I prefer music, especially Explosions in the Sky, or some other form of instrumental music.

I work better if the internet is far, far away. Yes, it is useful for finding whatever it is that I think I need, but it is also incredibly good at being distracting. In my undergrad, there was a coffee shop that, no matter what, I could not connect my laptop to their wireless. It was awesome! I would haul off to this coffee shop (which was also a bar - score!) and work for hours. Now, I just go sit on my couch. Same effect. Wireless + couch = no. Now, if only the super comfortable couch were not in the same room as the totally awesome DVD collection...

Perhaps I should write about some of my productive process-skills, instead of focusing on my neuroses. I like to write a little every day. Or, a little in the morning, a little in the evening. A few pages here, a few pages there. I am currently completely in love with footnotes and endnotes, so any place where I feel that I need to tie something in, I just add a little note. When preparing for an assignment, I like to set aside a morning to, prior to heading to the library, compile a detailed list of sources and things that I want to look at.

I also like to write a few pages of what I think I am doing and where I think it is going. Sort of a rough version of the assignment, which I will tweak and augment until it is the assignment. For some reason, this usually involves multiple text documents. I may focus on one idea for awhile before switching to another idea, at which point I will find some relevant way to connect these ideas. It really all depends on what I'm writing about and the guidelines of the assignment.

It has dawned on me that, thus far, I have described my writing process for completing academic papers. I guess this makes sense, since I am an American Lit Masters student and not a creative writer, but I do my fair share of creative writing. The process for creative composition is significantly easier for me, as I am usually compelled to write whatever it is I am working on. Something hits me, and I might jot some notes on a piece of paper (usually folded in half and upsidedown) to help me work through the story.

I have never been compelled to write a critical essay. Hopefully, that will happen. Sometime. Maybe.

In writing this entry and responding to a couple of blog posts, I've decided one thing. I'm not sure if process is something we can specifically teach students. Or, rather, I'm not sure process is something that we want to teach students. My process is something that I have come up with entirely on my own. No one "showed me the way." We can, and should, emphasize to students the importance of 1) beginning an assignment ahead of time, 2) prewriting in some fashion, and 3) editing in some way. I think that these are three crucial points that they should incorporate into their individual processes, but I think the rest is up to them.

(I wrote this blog in my office. Which is completely silent. And empty-ish. All I can hear is the sound of the computer, the echoes of voices in the hallway, and my foot tapping.)