A Center of Gravity and the Power of Feedback Improves Your Writing

Early thoughts on writing better 

            We can improve our writing. I have posted a few little essays about that here. We can begin to identify processes whereby we can better our writing. Here is an early post with my attempt to identify such processes.  

The following sentences point to ways to improve our writing which may be obvious:

~ Read my posts here.

~ Read for pleasure with some awareness of the writing process.

~ Read about writing.

~ Try to see how your favorite writer wrote.

~ Study under a good writing teacher.

~ Join a writing group.

~ Form a writing group.

~ Start writing.

~ Keep writing.

                We can learn by practice. I hope to be learning as I essay this writing. I intend to pass on as much of what in seem to be learning as I can. I have tried to follow all of the suggestions above accept joining a group for writing and forming a writing group.

                Participation in a writing group strikes me as being an agreeable and productive activity. I have read about writing groups and there is a special kind of group which I find attractive. A kind of group improved and practiced by a special teacher and writer, an Englishman by the name of Peter Elbow. One of his books is entitled Writing Without Teachers. The following is in large part my interpretation of some of this book.It is an accessible work which offers a variety of help for writers. A secondary title for that book might well be   THE POWER OF GOOD FEEDBACK.

                There are plenty of books about improving ones writing and some of them are very good, but this one by Mr Elbow is high in my consciousness. I have written more about this special kind of writing group in other essays on this site. I believe that we can learn a lot by helping others better their craft. I suspect that our learning can be better as members of a writing group.

                Many find that our writing practice can be part of  an important personal growth process. As our writing develops so do we. It seems a good deal As we grow and mature, our writing gets better. as our writing gets better, we grow and mature.

                We may not be surprised to find that while while completing a single piece. the writer herself may be surprised that she grows grows and matures with her writing.

My Recent Experience:

                I have found that I am now not surprised that I can find a "center of gravity" in a piece of work as I write it. I have found that it may move around as I write. But find it is most often the pleasant process of discovering the sharp short form of what what it is am really writing about.

                The list below includes ways, I have gathered from Mr. Elbow, for getting a center of gravity or unifying theme around which I can organize my writing. I am trying to be helpful and this could my way of saying that you have my blessing to stray from your original outline. Even so, discovering your real unifying theme could be more useful than your outline or your original idea.

Okay, here's the list:

~ Starting with X because it seems more believable than Y; note that as you write about X, that you are beginning to understand about Y.

~ Continue your struggle with X and Y and see "A" come up.`

~ As you write along you may honestly say, "Ah, now I see what I have been getting at."

~ Finish what you have been writing about. Put it aside for a time. See useful implications as you look it over again.

~ See that your good idea is crap. Then see that part of the crap looks less crappy. You sort out the good parts from the bad. You do not have to throw anything. Some of it may turn out to be better than your favorite idea.

~ Your first writing may prove a good scaffolding for your next writing.

~ You find a powerful spark in a tiny digression. You keep the same elements of your work, but change the whole orientation for the better.

~ As you progress in your writing, be alert to emerging focus of theme.

~ If nothing emerges, sum up that which you have written, then sum it up again.

~ Push yourself a bit to keep getting some center of gravity or summing up to occur.

~ Work gradually toward moderation of extreme positions.

                Don't try to do all of  the above at once every time! In fact you may find other ways of doing things excellent for you. For example you may find it better for you to work allout in your mind before beginning to write. I understand that some do so very well. Many of us do something very like the above, turn out good work, and find out that we learn a lot in the process. You may benefit a great deal by rereading the items above and then comparing them to your process. I have found that at times just one of these items can be saver. 

                Peter is a great teacher and better writer. The entirety of the book I have mentioned is mostly about writing groups and the center of gravity for this book of his could well be The Power of Feedback.

                Several of essays on this site deal with writing groups.

                Thank you for reading.

                You might want to save the address of this site.

                                                                                RCS

Writing Group

Your writing group is a place to learn from each other to teach one another and to give and receive loving feedback. 

Writing Better:

                At this blogsite you can find some of my recent thoughts on our good writing and also on the use of a group to that same goal.

                Many write for themselves and do not think much about readers. Many want readers and write for readers. So, the way one writes matters. If  your writing feel good to you and for you, that is good. All writing benefits from that. Your view and feelings matter. You might not get much feedback from your readers, so you have to depend upon yourself. However, you can benefit greatly from your reading of published authors. You may learn best from the authors you appreciate the most.

                Most writers seem to learn most about writing is by reading. Reading the best authors you most appreciate may be your best source of learning. If you really want to learn from them you might want to pay more conscious attention to the way they Write. You may want to analyze their writing. Your most solid way of learning to write is by writing. Later, it is helpful to look at your own writing and the writing of others to better see how it was done. Writers keep writing. Every developing writers seem to do most of the acts some of the time.  Everyone does this with their own variations.

                Many think about feedback. They would like some positive and specific feedback by people who have abundant experience with reading and writing. Criticism can be very positive and helpful and some experienced writers like it and appreciate, and find it useful. I still do not look for negative criticism.  We like to hear people say "I really enjoyed reading that piece of yours." But, it is more useful to hear about the details. We feel the lack of details about how the reader felt as they read a specific page, paragraph, or sentence of ours.

                Many writing teachers, even when they are helped by assistants  and other students, haven't the time and energy to provide you with in depth feedback for much of the work you turn in.

Enter the Writing Group!

                For you and me as serious writers, a writing group can be better than a good teacher. We can learn much from a good teacher, but we seldom get all the good feedback we want and need.

                One of the best characteristics of a writing group is the quality of the feedback you can get. Along with that quality you can get from your group, there you may also get more feedback from a variety of interest writers over a longer period of time. From your writing group you have a variety of knowledgeable, and interested individuals tell you how the felt upon reading a specific piece of your work. Often one can have this done more than once a month,

                You may attract more than one teacher to be a member of your group. They may need to be reminded that they are not there to teach. They, and each member of your group must focus on telling you about their experience while the read the writing you summited. These readers can tell you of the mood that comes through to them, the characters who come through, and which voices come through most tellingly. They can even tell you that they couldn't pay good attention because they were ill and had not slept well! 

                On this writing site you can benefit by reading several of the many little essays here and and be nicely surprised by the posting of a new essay. Simply scrolling down you can find other essays. To find many others you can be alert to a place were it says ''older posts" and clicking on that phrase and so encounter other useful essays. This is a site in progress, so new essays are on the way. Not all are about groups, but all are about writing.

Beneficial Actions You Can Take Now:

~ Start writing and keep writing.~

~ Search for an active writing group close enough for your use.

~ Try to sit in on a writing group meeting.

~ Check writing posts here and on other websites.

~ Consider forming a group of your own.

~ Keep writing.

                Consider your options. You do not have to have a group to become a good writer. Some great works have been written with pen and paper and a pencil can do well.

When you are beginning a group you may consider asking potential members to consider the following points.

Consideration of the following points can benefit a group and potential members:

~ Find a time to meet and try to stick to it. It's fair to start a second group if there are several who can't attend at the selected time.

~ Help each other to become better better listeners and readers.

~ Consider how works will be presented. For example: Do you want to hand out individual copies to be read later? or Do you want a work to be read aloud couple  during a meeting?

~ When you read a short piece for consideration during a class, try reading it twice. You may find a second reading importantly useful.

~ Show up at your meeting.

~ Continue to write.

            More to come.

            Thank you for reading.

                                                                                           rcs

We Want Feedback

We can live and write for days. weeks, and months without feedback

             Even so, one of the top values of a writing group is the variety of great feedback it often provides.

 

                The developing, growing, maturing writer learns to value the feedback of one's peers. Such feedback is precious and very often rare. Your writing group will be made up of fellow writers. In such a group you can have several knowledgeable readers telling you about the feelings and thoughts your writing stirred in them. They can tell you what they felt as they read a specific piece of your work. You can get regular feedback of several kinds from the members of your group.

 

                I hope to post more about feedback and other benefits of a writing group in future posts. This particular post is a short wide-ranging introduction to the subject.

 

                A writing group is usually about writing better without the use of a teacher. However, a writing group may attract more than one teacher, including teachers of writing. Don't be surprised if that happens, teachers are often learners who want to learn more about their subject.

 

                They might, however, need to be reminded that they are not there to teach. They are there as a learning reader and writer. They are there to be good readers ready to provide their honest reactions to that which they read. Each of your group members focus on telling you how she experiences the work you submit. Just as you will tell her how you experience your careful reading of her work.

 

Quickly moving forward, I here add actions you may consider taking before you choose a writing group or before making one of your own.You can:

~ Start writing and keep writing.

~ Find a writing group in action close to you and check it our.

~ Sit in a a couple of meetings to see how it may benefit or suit you.

~ Check  out online posts here and elsewhere about writing and writing groups.

~ Talk with a writing friend about forming a group.

~ Consider that most better writers have been good readers.

Once you better know your options and better know the kind of group you want, you might consider thoughts you would like potential members of your group to consider. 

Here are some sample points of the sort:

~ Find a time for your meeting and stick to it. Its fair to have have two writing groups each meeting at a different time.

~ Help one another to become better listeners and better readers as well as better writers.

~ Help each other to better know the kinds of feedback most needed and most wanted.

~ Decide on whether you want to handout your work to be read at home, to read your work aloud at meetings, or both, or what. 

~ When you read a piece in group, read it twice. You will find that two readings are much better than one.

~ Show up at meetings.

I enjoy and appreciate your comments about specific parts of the content of my posts. There is, I hope, a "comment" window just below. It may sometimes be marked with the words "no comments!"

 

                                                                                                                                RCS

 

 

 

 

 

 

Developmental Process

Writing is a Developmental Process 

                    It can be useful to consider the growing of your writing a developmental process. Your writing could suddenly get better, or even great, but neither is a good bet. However, when you keep writing and pay attention to the quality of that writing, you will begin to note changes occurring, some for the better. You can congratulate yourself. Consider the nature of the changes for the better and aim to accentuate the positive.

Kicked Back Writer

                    You can be relaxed enough. You can be abundantly relaxed. If you are not procrastinating, you may be relaxing just enough. If you are also writing, you are doing relaxed writing. There is no law against being a kicked back writer. Relaxed writing is often very good writing, and it is relaxing!

Changes

                    Your writing can change others and it does change you. Its a natural process. Your writing does not change alone, it also changes you, mostly for the better. As you practice your writing , as you write, your thinking changes, you come to behave differently, and to see happenings and life differently! To ripen and mature your writing, you cultivate it. This cultivating is les like high culture and more like caring for one's garden. Relaxed persistence and attention does the trick.

Do

                    Do avoid wasting time. You can sketch in a draft roughly; you can move fast when doing so feels OK. You can let your commitment and investment feel light. doing so does take some commitment. It pays to spend enough time and effort to make this draft a kind of complete version of that which you want to express. It can turn out to seem a mess, but it is your mess and there is almost certainly some good stuff in it. don't throw it a way yet.

                Try thinking of your words as though they are able to grow. Let them grow, allow them the energy they need to grow. Send energy through through your words. Relaxed is good, but you want to do too. Give your words life  energy to continue. You are cooking. You may already know that with attention you come to to the cooking, growth, and development.

Organizing  Words

                If you see your words coming into small piles and interacting you are most likely not crazy. Bundling is happening. It is a natural doing among us humans and an efficient doing. It is very likely that you are becoming more conscious of the process of writing. Attend and you may see those words separate and form new little piles according to some organizing pattern. The small piles consolidate and shake down into their best organization. They move together again into a big pile and work until a different pattern pattern emerges. This may repeat 4 or 5 times until you are satisfied or until it feels right.

As You Grow

                Your writing has undergone changes, so have you. Some of those changes will help your future writing be better.

                Onwards. 

                Let the new idea or perception finally take shape. Let go of the old perception and your writing grow. Some of your writing will seem bad this month and this year; accept that and see also that much of your writing shows improvement. As you grow your writing grows and as your writing grows, so do you.

Keep Writing

                Start writing and keep writing through great or little disorientation and chaos on to an organizing center of gravity; then go on to wrapping up and editing. Remember that is often best to complete a paragraph or more be foe considering the major rewriting of anything. Take time to reread your writing when you are rested, calm, and relaxed. You will find stinking poop from time to time. You will also find some truly fine writing. Pay attention to it. Then I try to destroy the stinking part before anyone else can see it. It is better to use it to point you you to the best of that which you were trying to say, Doing so might lead you to some of your best writing.

                We could be beginning a process of  satisfying life-long learning, cooking, and and maturing one draft at a time. We might call it a process of development.

                Thank you for reading.

                                                                                        RCS

  

Start Writing

  For now, try this:

                Write without stopping to worry, correct, or edit. A way to better writing is practice.  A way to practice is to start writing and to keep writing for more than five minutes without stopping. You will write some phrases you will really love. You will find it hard to throw them away.

                Be ready to to throw them away because  they probably won't fit the writing you end up with. If you don't come up with a whole new focus or angle, you will probably come up with a whole new subject.

                Before you do throw away what have written do this: Read it and pick out your best three or four best sentences. Then reread them. As you do so consider improvements you might make in them. Rewrite them and save them for a while.




                                                                                                Richard Sheehan

Writing Skills

 Writing  Skills

 

We are born with talents.
Skills are developed and maintained with practice.
Writing is a skill.  

As an aid to improving your writing skills you can keep a free-writing diary as a practice tool. You may also find that it is a great source of writing ideas.

Keep your free-writing in a private diary, journal, or notebook. No one but you need ever read a word you put there. In that private place you can write whatever you want in any way you want to.

You are likely to be very uninterested that I have gotten much inspiration
for this post and others like it From Peter Elbow's book WRITING WITHOUT TEACHERS. 

"Free-writing" is writing without judgement or criticism. Do no editing, corrections, or rewrites. All there is to it is to do it.

Do not throw away what you have free written. You can use it to discover subjects you can enjoy writing more about.

*******************************************************************

In your notebook, journal, diary, write. Produce a finished piece of writing. Keep a topic in mind. Digressions are okay, but when you find yourself digressing in this practice bring yourself gently back to the topic.

Digression are to be honored and respected. After all they do come from your beautiful mind. 
The idea in this practice is to keep writing. Do not stop writing. Do not stop for anything but the most serious and urgent reason. 

You may say to yourself "Let's remember the topic," but do not let a little digression of yours bother you.  Do very gently practice the discipline of keeping the topic in mind as you honor and value your digressions. 

It does seem that we writers are very much about digressions. They may lead us to our best writing. Still we do not want them to keep us from finishing a piece of work. 

As an aid toward helping myself to finish a piece of work I have told myself to write down everything I can think about the topic at the moment. 

Keep Writing.

Later you can look for your digressions in you work above.  Do another writing exercise based on your digressions. Let your digressions enrich your writing. Your  digressions may give you topics that motivate the real you.

                                                                                                rcs

You Don't Have to Fight

Write With RCS: More about getting unstuck. Write right now.

 

            Our writing gets so stuck that it doesn't seem worth fighting that stuckness. When that happens talk out-loud. Keep talking out-loud as though someone were listening. Talk about comparing words to meaning, about "cooking" and "growing." If that doesn't work quit.

            I don't mean we should quit forever; I mean just lay your work aside for a time. You want to write and there are actions you can take to start you writing and keep you writing until you write something good. You might take some time to consider what is going on with you. Are you hungry? Is there something in your life that needs doing?

            Do you have notes? Look them over calmly. Keep your notebook  and a writing implement at hand. You can review some of the other writing posts on Mago Bill. Sit down and complete a writing cycle. In ten minutes of focused and involved writing, then by stopping to see what it all ads up to or is trying to add up to. Your focus might be your topic or your theme. Your involvement might be to sincerely write what you feel. For example, "I'm suck, stuck, stuck. It sucks. sucks, sucks. It might not be very deeply sincere, but it might be a approach to your feeling.

            Start putting words and sentences on paper and keep writing for ten minutes without stopping. Use a timer, but do not be much concerned about quality. Try to include something that you know about what you wanted to write about.  When you complete your full ten minutes stop for a minute and then look back over that which you have written. Then try to write a sentence or two or even a short paragraph of what it seems to be trying to add up to. So you are reviewing what you have written. When you come to a thought, feeling, perception, or image you can gather up into one sentence or assertion, do so. Write it down.

            You wrote. You are writing. Don't be squeamish about letting yourself write badly. You are a writing writer!

            In your next writing project you might let your purpose be to cook and grow and not take your work as a disaster to be stamped out. Keep Writing.

            You may try to see cooking and growing a a global task: seeing all your writing as inter- dependent; seeing that no parts are done until all parts are done; seeing that you want to get your material to interact; seeing that the important interaction is writing and summing up; and in seeing what it means to alternately work in words and meanings.  Let me repeat that.
            Its about the cooking and growing expressed in other of our posts on writing. Understanding all  your writing as interdependent is worth cooking and growing in your mind. Understanding that no part of your writing is done no part is done is worth cooking and growing. Understanding that you want to get your material to interact is worth trying. Understanding that the important interaction is between writing and summing is important. Understanding what it means to alternately work in words and meanings may make you a great writer. No need to do it all today. Cooking and growing usually takes some time and are best done with your cooperation.

            You can let your goal be good writing. Your best writing is probably mixed up with your worst writing. You can find some excellent parts in what you have written. Some of your best sounds, rhythms, and textures, and even some of your best insights may come from  your most careless writing.

            Your purpose on a final draft and editing might be to get your meaning straight and to use  the best words you can to express that meaning.   

            Keep writing.




                                                             by Richard Sheehan with help from Mr. Elbow

 

Writing Without Teachers

Write With RCS: If you can find it get it.           

 

           "Writing Without Teachers" is, a book by Peter Elbow, from which I took notes some years ago. I believe Elbow was a gifted teacher and writer. I have located some of those notes and they remind me that Mr. Elbow is truly a very good teacher of writing in spite of the name he has chosen for his very useful book. In the face of the fact that I am a very "old dog" to be "learning new tricks" I intend to practice what Elbow suggests.

            I hope to learn from his suggestions by attempting to pass them on to you. I believe that one can learn by teaching, even though Elbow makes a very good case that a group of learners can cooperate to teach themselves to write through the use of methods he has developed and advocates.

            I feel that I have come to know Peter Elbow well enough to call him Peter. So, I will do that on some future little essays here on the process of writing.

            Peter finds the process by which an organism becomes grown or matured highly pertinent to the process of writing. He is not surprised by changes in the writer and his writings from the beginning to the end of a given piece of writing. He rather expects them. He finds it natural that a writer begin his writing believing x rather than y and end that writing believing y rather than x.

            He suggests that we treat our words as though they have a potential to grow. He trusts that we can energize our writing in a way that allows it to grow.

            You may pile up a few words. The words seem to have a certain interaction with each other. Then they are likely to sort into small piles. In a short time the the small piles consolidate and shake down into an organization of their own. Together again they re-interact so that a new pattern emerges and your words sort themselves into new piles. In another short period of time they begin to re-configure themselves in a way which you find more pleasing.

            You might organize this growing process into four stages: 1) start writing and keep writing; 2) experience disorientation and chaos; 3) detecting an emerging center of gravity; 4) mopping up and editing.

            Peter Elbow continues to teach and inspire me. Much of my best work comes from what I learn from Writing Without Teachers. 

 

 

                                                                            rcs 

Writing: First Words

 We are born with talents. Writing is a developing skill
 

Skills are developed and maintained with practice. 

            As an aid to improving your writing skills you can keep a free-writing diary as a practice tool. You may also find that it is a great source of writing ideas.

            Keep your free-writing in a private diary, journal, or notebook. No one but you need ever read a word you put there. In that private place you can write whatever you want in any way you want to.  

            "Free-writing" is writing without judgement or criticism. Do no editing, corrections, or rewrites. All there is to it is to do it.

            Do not throw away what you have free written. You can use it to discover subjects you can enjoy writing more about.

            In your notebook, journal, diary, write. Produce a finished piece of writing. Keep a topic in mind. Digressions are okay, but when you find yourself digressing in this practice bring yourself gently back to the topic.
 

            Digression are to be honored and respected. After all they do come from your beautiful mind. 
                

            The idea in this practice is to keep writing. Do not stop writing. Do not stop for anything but the most serious and urgent reason. 
            

            You may say to yourself "Let's remember the topic," but do not let a little digression of yours bother you.  Gently practice the discipline of keeping the topic in mind as you honor and value your digressions. 
            

            It does seem that we writers are very much about digressions. They may lead us to our best writing. Still we do not want them to keep us from finishing a piece of work. 

            As an aid toward helping myself to finish a piece of work I have told myself to write down everything I can think about the topic at the moment.                     

            Later you can look for your digressions in you work above.  Do another writing exercise based on your digressions. Let your digressions enrich your writing. Your  digressions may give you topics that motivate the real you.

             Peter Elbow's book WRITING WITHOUT TEACHERS has inspired me know that it is truly possible to write better with appropriate practice and Useful attitude. 

            Use the "comments" section below to contact me. Do so by clicking on "comments." If you see "no comments" click on it.

            Thank you for reading.

            Keep writing.

 

                                                                             rcs