In Sondra Perl's piece she talks to the audience about Understanding Composing, and this so happens to be the name of her writing, basically the process in which writers go through in order to write... or try to write, in some cases.
There are a lot of interesting ideas from Perl in her piece but the one idea that I can relate to the most is projective structuring, which in Perl's definition is the ability to craft what one intends to say so that it is intelligible to others.
I can relate to this in such a strong way because when I write, and I am pretty sure that I am not the only one who feels the same way, whether it is for a research paper, a short answer on a quiz, even a free write in some cases, I find it hard to get the thoughts that are jumbled up in my mind out on paper. It is not that I cannot write, I cannot transfer my thoughts, I can not make them sound intelligible to a peer writer or the audience I am trying to speak to.
Perl does mention that there are a couple of issues that pertain to projective structuring and one of them is that the writer is too focused on what someone else wants them to write and this is a big reason why they get stuck. This is true too, it is not until I am being told to write or prompted to by a teacher or professor that I get stuck and can not think of a thing to write. If I were to sit at home and just write because I felt like it, it feels like my writing could win a noble prize. The next thing that Perl mentions is that because of what we are previously taught about writing, we let that override everything else and then we find ourselves asking these questions like am I following the rules? or is the way I am writing correct? We the writers find ourselves worrying about those things instead of our audiences, our readers needs and expectations in what we are writing.
Perl had many ideas in her piece but this is what stood out to me the most, it hit home and it was very realtable. Reading this is going to make me think more before I write and instead of what someone is making me do versus what I am doing for someone else
Perl had many ideas in her piece but this is what stood out to me the most, it hit home and it was very realtable. Reading this is going to make me think more before I write and instead of what someone is making me do versus what I am doing for someone else
Oh no! You are getting stuck! So the real task then, is ot ALWAYS return to felt sense. You can worry about making the writing clean or intelligible after you bang out all YOUR thoughts and feelings. A writer with your kind of issue must first and always write with no reference to the teacher. Worry about about how to fit into the assignment AFTER you have gotten your truth out on the page in as many ways and words as possible. I wish you luck with that!
ReplyDeleteI also like that you described the topic in terms of your own experience. I think that's very useful and also something you can use in the final exam!