10-3-2013: My writing process

Okay I admit it; I've never been the strongest writer. Usually when I am writing a paper I’ll sit there for hours and hours trying to get my thoughts onto that blank page in front of me. It’s not as easy as you think, this whole writing thing. One of the most important parts on a paper is the introduction, because the introduction is meant to grab the reader’s attention, and get the reader hyped up about the topic. The introduction is the hardest thing for me to write because of this reason, and it usually takes me a very long time to come up with something that makes enough sense and flows correctly. I find myself sitting there typing out a few words, then deleting some and typing a few more. It’s like taking three steps forward and two steps back when I’m trying to write an introduction  What I find when I’m writing is that my papers tend to get less and less interesting when I start to reach about the mid-point and I run out of things to talk about. Using personal examples and describing your topic in more depth is important when you are leading up to your conclusion, so you do not bore your reader. The conclusion is there to reiterate everything that was explained and tie everything together so it all makes sense.  Rough drafts have been recommended in nearly every English course that I have ever taken, but I am still too stubborn to make a legitimate rough draft. My version of a rough draft is jolting my many ideas down on to paper, and then attempting to spit them out onto a piece of paper into sentences that hopefully make sense. My papers usually start as choppy messes that are slowly hand crafted, edited, and tweaked to perfection by many hours of hard work sitting in front of a computer. Another thing I like to do is have a friend, roommate, bystander, or anyone read my paper over and tell me if they see anything obviously incorrect. Sometimes this tactic doesn't work because college kids have better things to do besides read each other’s papers.  When I really take the time to make sure I’m using correct English, and I have several other people edit it for me, I tend to get good scores on essays.