Posted on by Britta

WRITING IS MESSY, OKAY?

So, this thing called the writing process is a bitch sometimes.

The final draft of my senior seminar paper is due tomorrow. Naturally, I am scrambling to finish it in time. What else? I mean, you all know how much of a procrastinating senior I am by now.

Well, really, I’m also incredibly overwhelmed by this mess of a paper. I was determined to be productive yesterday but I got maybe 100 words written and just couldn’t do it anymore. This draft is so messy and I didn’t even know
where to begin.

I was on the verge of panicking…

…until I remembered a little trick courtesy of my wonderful comp studies professor.

So, voilà. I give you my writing process…that I am in the process of right now…

IMG_20150503_152208933_HDR

Yes, that scissors absolutely destroyed my paper earlier today. As in, it cut it into pieces. And those are the pieces you’re looking at.

I never thought cutting up my paper would work for me. It seemed waaay too messy when my professor suggested it last semester.

But writing is messy. And my thoughts are messy. And yes, I’m graduating in 6 days and I’m so ready to be done with college, but I also want my senior seminar paper to be the best it can be. Through cutting up my paper, I’ve already realized that most of my paragraphs were waay too long (one of them was a page and a half) and I’ve been making good progress.

It’s really liberating to just tear this thing a part. Now I get to put it back together, only better than it was before. It’s like a puzzle.

And I best get back to that puzzle right about now!

**also, I’m behind on responding to comments and catching up on all of your blogs and such, but please know that I will get to them eventually. Between trying to spend as much time with my friends as possible making these last few memories of college and finishing up my school work, my usual attentiveness to the blogosphere has kind of gone down hill. The blogosphere will be here in a week. My college experience won’t.**

33 Replies to “WRITING IS MESSY, OKAY?”

  2. I’m actually experiencing a similar situation, save for the fact that I’m not writing a senior paper and it’s not due tomorrow. Writing is messy. And this actually seems like a good idea. I mean, cutting up your essay.

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    1. I highly recommend it. It was so liberating and I was so amazingly productive. Getting off the computer and really working with actual paper, shuffling it around, trying to make it into something better. It was such an amazing process. I definitely will utilize this method if/when I go onto grad school and I recommend it for anybody who is struggling with the drafting process. It took a bit of a leap of faith in my drafting abilities, since it is so different from what I’m used to doing, but it was so helpful in the end.

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      1. I might just do this. I have a hard time making my paragraphs shorter and concise and this could save me tons of rewrites. How was your senior paper? Were you able to finish it on time?

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      2. Yup, I sure did. It turned out pretty well, I think! I was up till 5 am last night finishing it, but it’s done. I certainly recommend this method if you tend to write longer paragraphs. It’s also great for moving around paragraphs and such. There was one part of my paper that I was so stuck on and had no idea what to do with it. When I cut it up, I was able to freely move paragraphs around and add parts and it turned out so much better because of that.

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      3. Whoever says writing was easy has never written a thesis. So, does that mean you’re done with college? Or do you still need to take finals?

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      5. Lucky. I still have two more papers and three finals. Well, I guess you can finally relax! And then come the tears and heartfelt goodbyes.

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    1. I highly recommend this method and will definitely be utilizing it if/when I go on to graduate school. Last night was soo productive with this method and I think I turned in a really well-done paper earlier today because of it.
      I’m trying my best to enjoy! 🙂

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  6. nah, don’t worry about us. you have the REAL world waiting for you out there. we’re all just floating about in the blogosphere. a few more days and you graduate, that is awesome! 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Oh goodness, I will try my best not to worry about all of you, Terri. I come from a family of worriers, so that’s easier said than done, though. Thanks for your encouragement and I will for sure make you all proud! 🙂

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