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

In a Writing Group

 Are you serious about having a group?

                Tell me about it. I am interested; I may even be able to offer some help, or to try to do so. And remember, you do not have to have one. Many successful writers have never had the experience of a group. Most have received some feedback and many have benefited from that feedback.

The following few paragraphs may help you in your efforts to recruit group members and even help to keep a a group to keep going:

                Talk feedback. An important, and appreciated, function of your group can be providing feedback to one another. There are effective ways of doing so. I will try to touch on a couple of those ways here.

                Other purposes for your group can include: inspiring you to write, improving the effectiveness of your words, and help you to feel satisfaction in your development. On this blog are an increasing number of posts calculated to improve your chances of pleasing a reader. These posts can help you to continue writing well with or without a group. You are welcome to explore them all.

Back to group feedback:

                Selections of members' writing may be read in group, yours too. This can be an important step toward providing useful feedback to a writer. Useful feedback begins with careful reading of her work. Often the entire group will participate in providing feedback on a given selection. I like to hear the selection read aloud to the whole group a couple of times. Group members will volunteer their comments and all are encouraged to do so. Group members will often quickly learn to make their feedback more honest and more helpful with little need for encouragement. Still, it is OK to encourage them.

                Writers may find that more reading may move them to better writing. 

A writer will appreciate a careful reading of her work. Should the writer be male he is likely to appreciate a careful reading of his work.

Reading:

              As a reader don't be nervous in telling how a given selection affected you. Your job can be well done just by honestly saying something about what happened to you as you read her selection. With this you will be making a great beginning and also doing that which will continue to be helpful over time.

                Some preparation may be called for. At times a piece may be read to you a couple of times in group. At other times you may take a written copy home to read carefully more than once. Everyone ought to be prepared to give feedback. Everyone will begin to learn a bit about providing feedback useful to the writer. The practice of honesty is a good practice to follow. Honesty can be kind and even loving as well as cutting and brutal. When you are not sure what kind of honesty is best at the time, it is usually best to choose kind and considerate.  

                Your good reading habits may get even better as you read the works of your fellow writers. You may come to pay better attention to your own feelings during your reading and even remember their occasion. Better reading often results in improved writing.

More about feedback:

                Upon hearing or reading a writers work, be ready to tell her how her words led you to react or feel. Tell her what happened to you as you read her words. You can also tell her what you understood or failed to understand from her writing. If the piece bored you, tell her so. Be honest. If you had a cold and had not slept well before your reading, let her know that it may have affected your reaction to her work.

                Do your best to complete your assigned reading. You may even suggest that it might be best for you to complete a reading during group time or to listen to a reading during group time. It's your group too. It is still unfair not to read. It is best to aim to read near your best. Read the work a second time and note the difference. Be a good reader to help others to write better and to give yourself a chance to write better. Be a better than average reader even when it feels somewhat burdensome to do so. You can tell the writer that it was burdensome. You can also tell him what you thought he was getting at and what seemed to be his main points. Your honesty can be very helpful.

                You can often help a fellow writer by telling him, or her, when and at what point, in your reading you felt perplexed, annoyed, or disappointed, enlightened, pleased and satisfied. Say what made you laugh or smile. Say when you got it and felt pleased. Say when the work felt rewarding.

                You now know some of the responsibility of a reader at feedback time.

                At that same time the writer's job is to hear the feedback, to be quiet and listen. Then to consider how to use the information to help her, or him, to write to better effect or to continue to practice his or her wonderful ability.

                Much of your ability to write well may develop with practice and experience at some distance from both class and group. Still classes have helped many, and group is helping may more, to develop their talent and ability.

                Thank you for reading.

                Keep writing.

                                                                                                 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

Practice

 

Writing: a way to better writing is practice

 A way to practice is to start writing and to keep writing.

     

                For now try this: Write without stopping to worry, correct, or edit. Write 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.

                Oh no! Did you already throw them away!




                                                                                                Richard Sheehan

 

You Can Express That Meaning

Write With RCS: Your purpose can be to express your true meaning so that your readers can really understand it.            

 

            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.  

 
            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




 

 

 

 

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

                                                                                                 

Intro to Write With RCS

Write With RCS: An introduction to a writing niche 

 I have perhaps a dozen little essays on writing in the works and ideas for a few more. That seems enough to begin a little niche blog dealing with writing.

 

 Over the years I have had several blogs, but nearly all of them have had a mix of many topics. I have seen and believed that the better blogs nearly always have a discrete topic or niche. So, now I intend to try and have such a blog.

 

My present suggestion to bloggers, including myself, is to sort an present your writings into clearly defined areas. My first efforts to that end will be this blog on writing. "Writing" may not be enough of a clearly defined area. So, it seems I have a great deal of room for improvement.

 

This blog will deal with the practice of writing. It may become a "how to" start writing and keep writing and include suggestions for getting "unstuck." It may include how to have some useful and to go a step beyond the step beyond in collecting them. I may include a suggestion or two for completing a useful draft. I will probably post of seeing our writing as a process of self-development and growth. The posts here will be about bettering our writing.

 

It is beginning to sound like a "how to blog." Maybe I should call this blog, Hints For Bettering Our Writing. I say 'our' and mean 'our.' So I will appreciate your comments, suggestions, corrections, and hints for better writing because I need them. There is a "comment" window below where you can write to us. Your commenting can be anonymous, but it is better if you can identify yourself. Of course you an identify yourself with a pen name if you wish. 

 

 

                                                                                                            RCS