Hmmmmm....Really??

My first response to the very first two sentences in Elbow, “The most effective way I know to improve your writing is to do freewriting exercise regularly. At least three times a week.” was I bet he doesn’t have children. This shocked me because I knew that I was supposed to be concentrating on learning about writing, yet my response had nothing to do with writing. My inner voice started out doubting what I was about to read.

But then, I found time to be thoroughly alone while reading, and then I truly began to enjoy what Elbow had to say. I think that we, as a society, do not put enough emphasis on writing. Not many people understand what it means to write well. Many people never write beyond what they have to do for work. And let’s face it—even those of us who are pursuing fields in English don’t write beyond our assignments.

I admit, I do not write very often. Until now, I have felt that I don’t have anything good enough to put down onto the page, so why waste my time? Now I know, according to Elbow (3), that it is okay to not have an idea or a concrete focus for writing, but that I should write for the sake of writing. In trying to write for myself, I always felt the pressure to write about something. Now I’ve learned it is just as good to write about anything, and the something will come about later.

The issue that Elbow raises about editing going on at the same time as writing (5) will be the hardest process to overcome, if I decide to follow Elbow’s method. In fact, I just corrected three spelling mistakes as I wrote the last sentence. It is my nature to fix things as soon as I see them. My brain moves too fast for my fingers to type as it is, so if I didn’t correct as I went along, I may not know what I was trying to say if I wait until later to change it. I fear that if I don’t do some editing as I go, even I won’t know what I’ve written.

The idea of writing as a growing process (12) interests me, but I am not sure that I could thoroughly subscribe to Elbow’s method of writing this way. Writing four drafts in four hours would frustrate me, I think. I am not a person who writes a paper using outlines, or talking points. I often write a paper first, and then develop a thesis statement later. I admit, I get frustrated using note cards or most of the other traditional conventions used in writing a paper. I am more comfortable writing at my computer, making changes as I go, and I am usually satisfied after my second edit. Elbow says, “Meaning is not what you start with but what you end up with. Control, coherence, and knowing your mind are not what you start out with but what you end up with” (15). I do not think that I can wait through several drafts in order to have control, coherence, and meaning. I am a person who needs control surrounding her, even if I am not the one in charge of the control. So to write in a way that lets control come organically seems intimidating and overwhelming for me right now.

The other thoughts I had after reading Elbow is this: I am the daughter of a Catholic Grade School teacher, who has shown me the good and bad sides to teaching. I feel I am going into teaching with my eyes clearly wide open, knowing that everything will not be the way I want it to be. Elbow paints a utopia for writing that I question could be effectively integrated into public school classrooms. I think it would be highly beneficial for students to be able to freewrite three times a week to practice writing. But then, what has to be eliminated or condensed in order to allow that time. Trust me, I am not trying to be cynical, or negative towards what Elbow is talking about; I am only trying to figure out how I could use what he discusses in a real-world practical sense. With so much emphasis on passing tests these days, I wonder how we can use this in a real-world classroom and still meet the requirements to cover the material that will be on those ever-looming tests.