My Writing Process

There's a plan in everything

Habits, techniques, and methods are all factors that can contribute to the overall success of a writer. These techniques can vary vastly from one writer to the next. Nonetheless, according to Dr. Lisa Ede, an English professor, writers can generally be divided into four categories or a mixture of them. These categories are heavy planners, heavy revisers, sequential composers, and procrastinators. 

• What type of writer do you consider yourself to be?

I believe that I have qualities from multiple categories listed above. However, I believe that the one that I fit the most into is the heavy planning category. Prior to writing I always develop dense outlines and take a good amount of notes. In addition to this, I also continue to think about what to write throughout random portions of the day.

Casablanca, Phil. "I Love it When a Plan Comes Together" 8/4/2009 via flickr. Attribution 2.0 Generic

• Does your writing process include several of the above approaches? If so, which ones?

Aside from the heavy planning, my writing process also includes aspects from the procrastinator approach. The reason behind this is that once I hit a wall or come down with writer's block, I stop writing until a later point in time when a new idea hits me. The issue is that sometimes a new idea does not come and I do not go back to writing until the deadline is near.

• Does your writing process seem to be successful? What are the strengths and weaknesses of your approach?

My writing process is inconsistent. When I do not get halted by writer's block and continue working, my writing process tends to be successful. On the other hand, when the idea factory is on a break, I procrastinate and end up rushing my work. Sometimes I get lucky and end up writing something that is rather decent, but then there are things that look like they were written right before the due date... because they probably were.

•  Do you think it might be beneficial for you to try a different approach? Why or why not?

I think it would be beneficial for me to try some aspects from the heavy revising approach. I feel like I tend to make a lot of simple grammatical mistakes. I usually only tend to skim my work and call it a day. I would also be beneficial from me to stop procrastinating and think of a different way to stop writer's block because that seems to be greatest obstacle.