Cooking...

I think that Elbow makes a great point when he says to talk to someone about your writing when you get stuck. Disagreements are better than agreements. It makes a better paper when there are contradictions to the argument. Even though Elbow makes good points, I still do not understand how he doesn’t use some form of an outline occasionally. His approach to writing can be somewhat impossible for certain assignments. How would you free write a research paper? It is possible to incorporate some of his techniques to improve your papers. I just don’t think I would be able to free write an entire paper.
The cooking process can most definitely be helpful when you are stuck in your writing. New ideas evolve from the cooking process, which is always good. I am beginning to wonder if Elbow used his approaches when he wrote this book. It seems as though he repeats himself several times throughout the book. His words seem to flow.
I think that non cooking can happen quite frequently. How many times have you been in a group that either everyone agrees and nods or everyone disagrees and argues? When this happens, nothing can get accomplished. It starts conflict between the group, and no one can accomplish the task.
I will try this approach when I have nothing to write about. I think his techniques would work well with composing an introduction and a conclusion. This gives you the opportunity to play with your ideas and words. I am still going to continue to use some form of an outline in writing my major papers. I am looking forward to our first writing assignment in this class so I can use these new writing techniques.