Organized Thinking

Hello Again bloggers!

This week in English 103 we have studied different tips and tid-bits of making our writing better. I have discovered several new ways of improving, one essay in particular seemed to speak to my writing interest and where I want to go with it. Written by Anne Lamott her essay entitled “Getting Started” is great advice for anyone looking to really delve into their writing talents.

As I had mentioned before about myself, I am actually quite enthusiastic about writing. I want a career in journalism, and eventually one day I would really like to publish a novel. For years now I’ve had an idea of the story I’d like to tell. Yet the challenge is taking so much information and many memories and organizing them into a story easy to understand. Each time I’ve attempted its ended in jumbled ideas and several start over’s. I found Lamott was able to organize the process and in grave detail. She begins in paragraph five by asking questions to spark memories of childhood. Lamott explains how a writer should retrace memory, starting one grade at a time. “You might start by writing down every single thing you can remember from your first few years of school.” (pg 102). Now I haven’t gotten too far with this yet, but by re-looking through photos and yearbooks I’ve gotten a few notes of my past clearly jotted down. It sort of eases the stress of the process for me. Then by paragraph seven she expands into other questions branching from the above mentioned. Such as focusing on big events and holidays during these times. I really enjoy when she says, “Write down all the stuff you swore you’d never tell another soul,” page 103. This factor definitely makes for a juicy story.

The other reason I enjoyed this essay so much is because of the detail she puts into describing the actual writing process. She makes the horribly painful ordeal of staring at a computer screen waiting for words to leave your brain, hilarious. Her diction in general is knowledge because it clearly forms an image. Such as this quote from paragraph 9, “But you hold an imaginary gun to your head and make yourself sit at the desk.” Effective language, gave me a few thoughts of literary suicide. Lamott is also honest in her writing advice, paragraph 11 she talks about how there is no secret creativity code. It sort of me feel a little more confident in my writing to know I’m not the only one that has to muster up creative thoughts. She goes on to explain how persistence and obsession will eventually find the miracle paragraph. After Lamott’s intensely detailed direction on how to organize and express our thoughts she finishes her guidance with a defining sentence. She begins by telling of how your story begins to materialize then says “…you are learning what you aren’t writing, helping you to find out what you are writing.”

All of this sort of boosted my writing ego, I am able to see how to better organize my thoughts before sitting in front of the computer for hours. I enjoyed this essay, I hope all you guys were able to get something out of it too. Anyway, that’s all for now. See everyone soon.