Corina Roman

Leslie Wolcott
ENC 1101
9/16/14
Writing Self Study
From trying to keep concentration to the constant battle of fighting distractions, many things go
through your mine when you are reading or writing something. While reading The Composing
Processes of Unskilled College Writers, by Sondra Perl fell in the category of dealing with
distraction. Not only did we read and analyze the point Perl was trying to get at, we also had to
respond to it, consuming much more time and fighting distractions for a longer period of time.
But looking over my own thoughts during reading and writing, I noticed I have a pretty basic
pattern depending on internal distractions. Things such as internal distractions, for example
hunger, become very evident. I was very hungry while I was reading it, being hungry lead to the
thought of food take over I wasnt really focused and constantly had to reread the same
sentences to actually comprehend what I was reading. However after eating, satisfying the
internal distraction, I was still externally distracted by my surroundings but not nearly as much as
when I was reading and I was mentally motivating myself to get finished and not waste anymore
unnecessary time. Reading the different research studies, it really made me realize what type of
reader and writer I am through multiple points of view and could help students involved in Greek
life, like myself, to find what kind of writer they are as well.
When reading and writing my response to Perl, I realized I have very sporadic and random
thoughts with spurts of some repetitive and constant thoughts. Going through my codes I realized
that once an internal distraction starts, I am completely checked out, rereading and skimming,
until I am able to overcome this distraction. Until the distraction was satisfied I had no idea what

I was even reading, skimming and rereading did not even help, all I was thinking about was how
hungry I was and how close in time I was to eating a meal again. Once the distraction became
too hard to fight, I had to just start snacking until I was able to eat a full meal. A majority of my
codes during the reading portion were all about food because that was the biggest distraction I
was facing. I knew once I started snacking, the food itself would be a physical distraction, but in
the end I would stop thinking about food so much and could actually attempt to concentrate on
what I was trying to read. Also food became such a big distraction because I was bored, and once
you become bored you become hungry then it is all downhill from there. Once I was more than
halfway through with snacking I was slowly starting to notice the progress I was making in what
I was reading and how far along in the reading I was getting. I noticed I was still trying to skim
because of the fact I saw how much progress I was making and I just wanted to hurry up and
finish. This can become a bigger battle to face than an actual distraction because it basically kills
all the concentration and time I spent on actually trying to comprehend what I was reading. Once
I forced myself to stop trying to cheat and skim my way to the end, I mentally motivated myself
that I only had a page left or one more sentence, knowing once I was done I could take a break
for a few minutes and actually eat somewhat of a meal. Giving myself motivation was the only
way I was going to finish.
Of all the writers we studied and analyzed their research, I realized my writing style is
extremely relatable to Shitty First Drafts, by Anne Lamott. Lamott was a non-fiction writer and
novelist, she bluntly stated that no matter how good or not so good of a writer you are, your first
draft of anything you write will always be the worst. She assures you that you shouldnt be so
afraid of rejection when writing your first draft because common sense should tell you that of
course it will be the worst. Lamott states that even she and other writers she knows cant get

anything written at all if they dont write really, really shitty first drafts (Lamott, 1994, 528). I
can really relate to that because I expect my rough drafts to always be terrible because I know
once I get the criticism I need I will know exactly the things I should fix to turn the paper from a
rough, emphasis on rough, draft to a great final piece. Students involved in Greek life, like
myself, all understand the pain of trying to write a paper when you have 200 other things going
on and socials or going out that youd rather be doing. Due to the reason of so many things to be
involved with, I know plenty of times when I wrote up some crappy draft just to get it over with
and be on with my life. With that being said, it made me more comfortable reading Lamotts
piece because I know all my drafts Ive turned in were bad and it feels more comfortable to know
that they should be bad, other Greek affiliated students can relate.
The writer that gave me a different point of view on how to write was Stephen Frys video on
Kinetic Typography. He took a complete opposite and unexpected stance on editing and writing a
paper. Fry, English writer and comedian, explained that we should be focusing on the context of
the writing and not so much on unimportant things such as the grammar and sentence structure
(Fry, 2010, video). It was strange to hear a writer speak from that stance because all our lives
teachers have critiqued our writing through suggested grammar and variation in sentence
structure. He almost made me feel like all this time when I thought my writing was good or bad,
the improvement would have been in my actual grasp of the context not changing it up to
sophisticated grammar and complex sentence structure. I agree grammar and sentence structure
are not the only components of writing but I would not consider it unimportant, it may not be as
important, but it is not irrelevant to writing.
This self-study assignment truly was beneficial to how I thought I should write and how I
actually should write. I gained a more in depth understanding of my flaws in my writing style

and analyzing what I have read. It really made me realize what type of reader and writer I am
through multiple points of view and could help students involved in Greek life, like myself, to
find what kind of writer they are as well. Through the mythology process I became aware of how
my body reacts to the thoughts traveling through my head and how my writing is the response to
those thoughts. I learned that if I have any mental or internal distractions present before my
writing, it will only progress into a bigger distraction if I do not satisfy it as soon as possible. I
noticed that I will only be skimming and not comprehending if I am completely checked out due
to the distractions. Reading the studies of different views showed me different ways to approach
reading and writing, and that have a really, really rough draft, is what should be the case. By
analyzing my own habits I realized how much better of a writer I could become if I just got into
the right state of mind and remembered the things I learned through each writers study.

Works Cited:
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Lamott, Anne. Shitty First Drafts. Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life.
New York: Anchor, 1994. 527-544. Print.

Fry, Stephen. Stephen Fry Kinetic Typography. Online video source. Youtube. Youtube,
30 Sep 2010. Web. 27 Aug 2014.