Writing As a Developmental Process

                      Consider the your writing as a developmental process which grows and develops you.

                        Your writing could suddenly get better, or even great, but neither is a good bet. However, when you keep writing and pay some 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.

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

                        Writing can be very much a natural process. Your writing doesn't just grow by itself, it also changes you, mostly for the better. As you practice your writing, as you write, you come to think differently, behave differently, and to see happenings differently. To ripen and mature your writing, you can cultivate it. Cultivating is less like high culture and more like caring for one's garden. Relaxed persistence and attention does the trick.

                         Do avoid wasting time. You can sketch in a draft roughly; you can move fast when doing so feels okay. Let your commitment and investment be light. Doing so does take some commitment. It can pay to spend enough time and effort to make this draft a kind of complete version of what you want to express. It could turn out to be a mess, but it is your mess and you could find some good stuff in it. Don't threw it away yet.

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

                        If you come to see your words come into a small pile and interact, you may be mad. Most probably you are not. It is likely that you are becoming conscious of the process of writing. Attend, and you may see those words separate and form new little piles according to some energizing pattern. The small piles consolidate and shake down into their best organization. They move together together again into a big pile and work until a different pattern emerges. This may repeat 4 or 5 times until you are satisfied or until it feels right.

                        Your writing has undergone changes; so have you. Some of those changes will will help some of your future writing to be better then ever!

                        Onward. Let the new idea or perception finally take shape. Let go of the old perception and let 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, it grows; and as it grows, so do you.

                        Start writing and keep writing through great disorientation and chaos and on to an organizing center of gravity; and then go on to wrapping up and editing. Remember to complete a paragraph or more before considering the rewriting of anything. Take time to reread your writing when you are rested, calm, and relaxed. You will find stinking poop. You will also find some writing of which you can be proud. Pay attention to it. For my part, I then try ro destroy the stinking part before anyone else can see it.

                        You have begun that which may become an ongoing process of learning, cooking, an maturing, one draft at a time. 

                        Thanks for reading. 

 

 

                                                        RCS

                

                        

 

Writing: A developmental Process

Write With RCS: learning, cooking, and maturing, one draft at a time.

                It may be useful to consider the growing of your writing as 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 some 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.

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

                Writing can be very much a natural process. Your writing doesn't just grow by itself, it also changes you, mostly for the better. As you practice your writing, as you write, you come to think differently, behave differently, and to see happenings differently. To ripen and mature your writing, you can cultivate it. Cultivating is less like high culture and more like caring for one's garden. Relaxed persistence and attention does the trick.

                 Do avoid wasting time. You can sketch in a draft roughly; you can move fast when doing so feels okay. Let your commitment and investment be light. Doing so does take some commitment. It can pay to spend enough time and effort to make this draft a kind of complete version of what you want to express. It could turn out to be a mess, but it is your mess and you could find some good stuff in it. Don't threw it away yet.

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

                If you come to see your words come into a small pile and interact, you may be mad. Most probably you are not. It is likely that you are becoming conscious of the process of writing. Attend, and you may see those words separate and form new little piles according to some energizing pattern. The small piles consolidate and shake down into their best organization. They move together together again into a big pile and work until a different pattern emerges. This may repeat 4 or 5 times until you are satisfied or until it feels right.

                Your writing has undergone changes; so have you. Some of those changes will will help some of your future writing to be better then ever!

                Onward. Let the new idea or perception finally take shape. Let go of the old perception and let 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, it grows; and as it grows, so do you.

                Start writing and keep writing through great disorientation and chaos and on to an organizing center of gravity; and then go on to wrapping up and editing. Remember to complete a paragraph or more before considering the rewriting of anything. Take time to reread your writing when you are rested, calm, and relaxed. You will find stinking poop. You will also find some writing of which you can be proud. Pay attention to it. For my part, I then try ro destroy the stinking part before anyone else can see it.

                You have begun that which may become an ongoing process of learning, cooking, and maturing, one draft at a time. 

                Thanks for reading. 

 

                                                                                                              rcs

      

                         

A Writing Group

Write With RCS: 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