My Writing Process - Maybe it was me?

It's hard to fathom that I'm going to be blogging again. Long ago, back in the blossoming years of my youth, I convinced myself that being a blogger would be cool. Everything goes full circle I suppose.

Going throughout my high school years it was easy to observe how different I was from the rest of my peers. I wanted everything to be perfect, to look perfect. I spent so much of my time working on perfecting my work my friends thought that I was insane. Writing for me is like a non-artistic individual trying to draw an image they see in their mind. It takes a life-time to complete and still never looks quite right.

After spending some time looking for an image, I found that this one struck a chord with me. I want everything in my life to be nice and organized so it is simpler, but it often makes things more complicated.

Kalogeropoylos, Dimitris. "Life's more fun when you are organized" April 21, 2010 via flickr.
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1. What type of writer do you consider yourself to be?

After much thinking, I would classify myself as a "Sequential Composer". I'm the type of person that needs a plan in order to get started, and will constantly rework and rewrite my compositions until I feel that it is "perfect". To me it is much easier to allow my creative juices to flow once I have a set of notes in front of me, easily referenced if my mind draws a blank.

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

It's hard for me to understand how a writing process can solely ever be one of the four categories. Even those that procrastinate until the night before it's due obviously plan to do that, so in a way they are like those that are "Heavy Planners", needing to be confident enough in their writing to have it completed in one go around. My own writing process is a combination of the "Heavy Revisers" and the "Sequential Composers". In order for me to write an effective paper, my first draft usually ends up being a jumbled up mess and I have to decipher what my brain was thinking at the time of writing it. Since I am never truly satisfied with any of my work, a typical essay can have anywhere from four to five drafts. Leading up to the draft, a lot of my time is spent finding notes, creating an outline, and revising the outline until it makes some sort of sense. I am not the type of person that does well under time constraints, and would prefer to get work done way in advanced. Due to this somewhat odd quirk I have compared to my peers, I'll often start working on my papers weeks in advanced and aim to have them completed a couple of weeks before the due date.

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

Looking back at my papers from high school, I typically had the highest grade of the class so I would say my process is successful. The biggest flaw behind my process is that it can take me weeks to feel comfortable enough with my paper, and I often obsess over every little thing. However, because I do spend so much time revising and rereading my works I am able to check for understanding and clarity.

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

Being somewhat of a procrastinator would probably be better for my mental health. I would never be a procrastinator to the extent of waiting the night before a paper is due to start, but I could benefit from not starting as early. The process of writing a paper consumes every fiber of my being, as I want it to be perfect. The perfectionist quality within myself is a double-edged sword. While it does allow my works to seem more sophisticated than that of my peers, I drain all of my energy by continually editing anything I do. My biggest stress factor is myself because I am always demanding more of myself. "Does this look right?" or "Is this straight? Does this look presentable?" As I've been told many times in the past, I need to be less high strung and take a chill pill.

On that note, I think I will go take a chill pill and do some yoga to relax myself.

EDIT:

After looking through and reading through a lot of the blogs, I found myself drawn towards Hallye's post. I noticed that, like her, I often find myself having to restrengthen the beginning and middle section of my papers because I am still formulating it as I write it. Since the first parts of my papers are so weak, I find myself revising my papers on the upwards end of five times. While everyone has their own process that works for them, I think I could work on being less of a perfectionist. I strive for excellence, but my perfectionism is often my downfall. Bri's post showed me that I'm not the only one who likes to do things by hand first. Like her, I find it easiest to put some of my thoughts down on physical paper before I begin typing, that way I have a quick reference. Another benefit to doing things by hand is that you never have to worry about files being deleted. My biggest take from reading some of the other blogs is that it would do me some good to relax a bit more. It's not always necessary for me to start papers weeks in advanced and spend a large portion of my time revising.