As I was looking through all of my old writing assignments dating back to who knows when, I discovered one thing: I am extremely unorganized.
I am not so much unorganized in the fact that my papers are stored in the most random of places it takes a "Where's Waldo" search to find them. I am acutually the opposite of that-- my papers are neatly stored inside a folder from the class they came from which is stored in a folder of the year I wrote the essay in. I think every aspect of my life is like this--organized to a T. Everything from my color-coordinated closet, to my perfectly made bed every morning is organized, but one area where I fail at this systematic lifestyle is in my writing.
While I managed to pull off "A" worthy essays, the path I took to get them there boggles my mind. Some of my original leads are so far out there, I must have had five shots of espresso in my skinny caramel latte before writing them. I save almost every draft I write, and looking through each draft of an essay amazes me. How I end up at point B when I start at the most random point A is something I will never understand. And I think that is why I like writing so much. I could have started with the most irrational and crazy idea I've ever had, but somehow, that chaos forms itself into a logical essay or piece of writing. I think those writing experiences are the best ones--where the process itself takes you in a direction you never even considered when starting a first draft. I often go back to these raw, unedited, and original ideas to inspire me when I cannot think of any ideas.
Who knows, maybe that first draft of an essay on Romeo and Juliet from freshman year of high school will come in handy down the road...
Also, in light of the new season beginning tonight...here's one of my favorite Glee moments. Enjoy! :)
Glee- Don't Stop Believin'
I think there's definitely a good connection between the Glee song you chose and the drafting process (I may or may not listen to this on repeat the whole time I'm working on this week's draft) ;-)
ReplyDeleteI think it is so funny that you're so organized and structural with your planning in everything else. That is some of the magic of writing though, letting it complete itself and unfold in front of you. It's great to be able to write organically!
ReplyDeleteI was thinking earlier while reading our assigned readings how I wish I had some of my old drafts for papers, etc. I know that I have several papers from my pre-graduate days, but there is no sign of anything besides the final version with a grade and teacher comments. I have no idea where I started from and some of those papers were written YEARS ago! It's great to be able to look back and see progress/thinking processes. I'll have to be more aware of this from now on.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of saving old writing. A couple of years ago I looked through old assignments and writings from high school. I came across a paragraph that I wrote once in the middle of the night when I woke up and couldn't fall asleep again. It intrigued me, so I wrote a ten page fiction story about it. It was probably the most fun I've had writing a paper.
ReplyDeleteI completely agree, the drafting process can be a very bizarre. One reason writing is so difficult is the open-endedness (pretend it's a word) and the path we take with out writing completely changes the outcome of the work. Sometimes lacking organization can be a virtue, because you can really come up with some unique ideas this way.
ReplyDeleteI am just like you--I hate when my room gets cluttered and my closet is also color-coordinated in rainbow order, haha. I haven't had the chance to recently look back at my previous papers from high school or middle school, but I feel like I too am and have been unorganized when it comes from going to point A to point B.
ReplyDeletePS I enjoyed the link; I LOVE Glee :)