Final Process Writing

            Through thinking about my writing process I have discovered that once I have my first real viable idea I tend to have this niggling feeling that that story I’ve picked is the one that needs to be told. I often attempt to think of other topics just to be sure that there isn’t a better one floating in my mind but I usually come back to my first instinct—I like knowing that I can trust my instincts.

            The most frustrating part of my work for this class was trying to set up interviews. For the chapel piece I thought that I would have an easier time but no one has time. Not me, not faculty or staff. The most I could do was show up or schedule last minute appointments. Once the interviews began however, it was a different story. The people I spoke with speak so easily about themselves, their lives, and their passions—I think deep down all people are people people if you give them a chance.

            The most important change I made in my revision process was directional. I would always change the direction of my focus, sometimes just slightly but the result is magnified in the narratives. Working on finding my focus was somewhat of a breakthrough for me. Workshops were very helpful as well. Hearing about the things that people liked and didn’t like was helpful, as well as hearing what some of my reader’s wanted more of. I think that’s such a cool thing that we get to do in workshop—connect with our readers. In the real world, for a lot of writers, I don’t think that feedback is always there.

            Writing for this course has taught me that I don’t prefer working in a setting where I have to search out a new story every couple of weeks. I like to have the stories I choose to tell arise more organically than that. I learned how helpful workshops can be and that even without hearing feedback on my piece, reading and thinking about the elements of some one else’s work can help with my own work all by itself just by critically reading. This class reinforced and improved much of my previous work and I hope to continue to grow.