I write like a child who is just learning to ride a bike, frantically lurching forward only to skid to a halt just a few moments later. I’ve never understood (and always envied) those people who can sit down, zero in on the task at hand, and pound out a full first draft without breaking a sweat. With me, there always seems to be some sweating.
Through writing something close to five hundred pages over the course of my time at Wesleyan (yes, I counted), I’ve learned quite a bit about my personal writing process. These observations range from the fundamental (I cannot start an assignment the night before it is due and expect it to be coherent) to the inane, but ultimately useful (I often come up with my most successful thesis statements halfway through a shower). But what has stuck with me most over the years has been the fact that this slapdash collection of idiosyncrasies is unique to my process and style. No one seems to write exactly the same way I do.
I have a friend who must delete and rewrite the first full page of a paper before he can move on to page two. Another friend claims she writes best from one particular spot in Olin and is outraged whenever she shows up to find her usual desk is occupied. One requires white noise in the background while another gets distracted by the even the slightest sound. One balks at the thought of writing more than a two-paragraph response while another grows irritated when he has to condense his thoughts to a mere five pages.
We all write differently. What’s more, as Wesleyan students we are all writing all the time. Even students in non-writing intensive majors slave away over lab reports, research proposals, and cover letters. Surely, we can learn from each other’s methods and tactics, foibles and triumphs. We, the student body, constitute perhaps the most extensive writing resource this campus has to offer. By not sharing advice and exchanging our work, we are selling ourselves short.
This is where the Writing Workshop comes in. As of this week, in addition to our weekly office hours and other resources, we are officially unveiling a Writing Workshop Blog to serve as both a hub for information about writing on campus and a space for students to come together to share their work, swap strategies, advertise events and publications, and generally discuss the craft of writing. Over the next few weeks, we are planning to unveil a wide variety of content, from interviews with student writers to suggestions for interesting places to write off-campus. If you are searching for advice, writing resources, or even just some fun new reading material, stop on by! Furthermore, if you have any ideas for posts or general suggestions you would like to submit, please send them to us. We are hoping to get as many people involved as possible.
You can access the Writing Workshop Blog at: http://writingworkshop.blogs.wesleyan.edu
Any questions, submissions, or suggestions can be sent to writingworks@wesleyan.edu
Mechling is a member of the class of 2011.
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