7/30/2019 Project 1 Pt 2 Final
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Project 1 Pt: 2
Cory Boggs
(English 1510)
J.DehavenDue 2/8/13 (Draft)
Writing about Writing
Writing about writing is a difficult for someone that is not
particularly familiar with their
own process. When I do write it is clearly from necessity.
Clearly I must further pursue andadvance myself as a writer. I
noticed several habits that I have developed during my time as
a
writer. Many of these negative habits I believe to be relevant
to my particular audience (my
classmates) in the sense that the majority is in agreement and
suffers from similar unproductivepractices like procrastination,
sloppy use of grammar and incomplete thinking. My claim to my
peers to improve the way that we all go through the mental
procedure that is writing, is to simply
identify what you are proficient in and what you must improve on
through self analysis.My personal habits in the writing process are
borderline ritualistic. Before I began to
write I recorded my thoughts aloud on a recording device, prior
to this I immediately began to
write my thoughts in a journal. As I look back on my data
several things are prevalent in myfindings; my behavior seems very
spontaneous and in how they are related to one another. In my
written recordings I notice the large gap between my choice of
writing topics. My initial ideas
were in a sense a rubber ball fired in small room (all over the
place), of course this is not
completely a negative reaction to the writing process. The
amount of consideration in my processthat I unknowingly put in my
work prior to writing is unexpected, I believe this first step is
the
metaphorical spark of creativity. Because my ideas for writing
are found all across the spectrum I
believe I subconsciously consider my options in great detail
such as: who is my audience, howmuch base knowledge do I have on
this topic, and how interested am I initially in the topic?
As I research my findings I also found that I must clear my mind
of all thoughts to reach
the appropriate level of cognitive ability in order to perform
within my own set of standards. Theenvironment that I choose to
place myself in plays a large role in the meditative process,
meaning that I must not only accomplish any task that may
inhibit my ability to reach my
writers state of mind such as cleaning my area, using the
facilities, and becoming distracted bytechnology. I must also
seclude myself from everything that poses potential of
distractionincluding the temptation of the internet, I over came
this by turning on my full screen so that I
am limiting my visual sense. After I find that I have adequately
fulfilled my mental constrictions
I am then and only then able to write to the best of my
abilities.My findings have not only opened my eyes to the nature of
my thought process, but they
have allowed me to improve myself as I write this document. My
first obstacle to overcome is
clearing my mind, I have done research on how other like-minded
individuals choose toovercome this. The research was highly
effective in the sense that it is immediately relevant and
notably helpful. My way of testing these newly discovered method
is to implement them
immediately. I have read that listening to music with no vocals
may help to reach a meditative
state by soothing the mind as it also limits the sense of sound
to further prevent chance ofdistraction. Prior to my self
examination and further research, my environment directly
affected
my work because I would remain in my living area. In this area I
could encounter more
distractions from completing my work than I could count. In fact
my evidence for this is I hadplanned to write out my rough draft as
soon as possible but did not because I remained in my
room and was distracted by a visitor for the remainder of my
free time. My solution to this
problem is to schedule a set time to start, and end working and
to seclude my self in mydormitorys study lounge with noise
canceling headphones playing soothing slow instrumental
7/30/2019 Project 1 Pt 2 Final
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Project 1 Pt: 2
compositions. This method of sensory manipulation if you will,
may have proven its
effectiveness with the results of this document. (The deciding
factor will be the final grade of
course.)A general assertion that I may make on the writing
process is that to achieve the most
accurate translation of ones own thoughts, one must begin by
analyzing their own subconscious
thoughts and patterns and filtering it for the sole purpose of
focusing on the writing task at hand.Looking at this assignment as
an auto-ethnography I have found this to be helpful in realizing
my
own personal defects as a writer. My research has provided me
with the information that is
unique in its own way, but it is accurate enough so that I may
code it accordingly. My recordingsshow how I spent my collective
five hours and five minutes of working on separate days.
(Coded results are listed in figures 1 & 2)
Recordings Collective time Time writing Time thinking Time
distracted Time in
preparationTime (Minutes) 305 min 145 min 34 min 55 min 76
min
Time (Percentage)100% 47.5% 11.1% 18% 24.9%
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
