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Leland Drongesen

ENC 1101

12/05/2019

Writing is like Flowing Water

Throughout this semester my perception of writing has changed vastly. Despite the

challenges I faced, I have continued to develop my writing skills and maintained a positive

attitude about writing. This has largely been because I have a better understanding about my own

writing process and changed the way that I view writing. I now view my writing process as a

peaceful process rather than a laboring task, so much so that in creating a metaphor I compared it

to something as relaxing as flowing water. When coming up with the metaphor, “Water is like

flowing water”, the idea seemed to come very easily, likely because it reflects the change in

perception I’ve had about my writing process. Other than this idea, I also considered “Writing is

like the wind” and “Writing is like a river”, because these ideas both seem to be involving

ongoing processes and can be attributed to both a sense of calamity as well as a sense of panic

depending on the intensity. I ultimately chose to use flowing water as a comparison because it

seems to be more versatile, as it can be flowing in a calm creek or flowing in the ocean creating a

disastrous hurricane, just like writing can be a calming act but also have intense, stressful

moments. I feel as though this metaphor best demonstrates the relationship that I currently have

with writing and also reflects the growth that I’ve had as a writer throughout the semester.

Coming into ENC 1101, my relationship with writing was very strained. I felt as though

everything that I wrote was “incorrect” and often found difficulty putting my thoughts into

words. This caused me to view writing as a task or chore I had to complete rather than an

ongoing process. This is also likely because I usually viewed writing as an assignment I had to
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finish instead of a process I had to take the necessary time and steps to go through to create a

piece of work. I often assumed that I would continue to view writing in this way in college and

felt overwhelmed knowing it would be much more difficult than a high school writing class. I

was pleasantly surprised to find out that while it is more advanced than a high school class, ENC

1101 also teaches you a different, less stressful approach to writing as well as the impact your

linguistic background has on your development as a person. Prior to this class, I never

considered how the acquisition of language and literacy impacts the way we perceive the world

and the way we interact with those around us. This understanding has allowed me to view my

writing from a new perspective and has aided in my development of a more efficient writing

process.

While the idea of a writing process is still somewhat new to me, I have worked

throughout this semester to learn the most effective methods for creating a satisfactory piece of

work. My own writing process begins the invention of ideas, I often write down thoughts about

an assignment in the notes on my phone so I can later incorporate into a work. I continue my

process by putting together these thoughts and planning out what I am going to write and how I

am going to structure my work. After writing and composing a work I will go back and edit any

small mistakes I catch, then reread and revise any mistakes I noticed. This overall process has

caused me to form some habits in writing, while some are beneficial, there are others that are

detrimental to the quality of my writing. Prior to sitting down to write, I often become

preoccupied by other things and try to put off writing because I am not “in the mood” to write at

that particular time and once I begin writing, I find it hard to maintain concentration and try to

distract myself. In Time, Tools, and Talismans by Susan Wyche, the author includes her

interview with a girl named Adriana who says that she typically procrastinates in a similar way
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by cleaning her room before she writes and must change locations frequently while writing. She

also says that she puts off doing assignments until the last minute and suggests that she works

well in intense circumstances (243). While I relate to Adriana in all of these aspects, these are

only some of the negative habits I formed primarily throughout high school and middle school,

some of the more positive habits I have formed focus heavily around the development of a more

intense revision process, which I worked on immensely throughout this course.

It was very surprising for me to learn just how important the revision process was, while I

knew it was crucial to go back and fix a few errors and tweak a few sentences, I never truly

understood how much time and effort should be put into revising. While a lot of activities

changed the way I like to revise my paper, the in-class and online peer reviews really made me

look at my work from another's perspective, which caused me to view writing in a way that I had

not previously. Leaving this class, I think that my greatest strength regarding my writing process

is the revision process. While, I still find some difficulty in inventing ideas and staying focused

while planning, the revision process has gotten much clearer for me and it is now much easier for

me to create a satisfactory piece of work by simply taking the extra time and focusing more

closely on revising my work. My greatest weakness, however, seems to be during the invention

process, as it is sometimes difficult for me to come up with ideas or convey my thoughts in a

good way. I think that next semester I will continue to get better at this, just as I did throughout

this semester, because I think it is a skill I will continue to develop as I grow as a writer.

At the beginning of this semester, I set the goal for myself to create overall more

structured and intellectual pieces of writing as I progress throughout this course. I think I met

this goal, even if only slightly, because as my knowledge of writing processes and literacy

increased, the quality of my writing increased as a result. Throughout this semester I became
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aware that I am very independent regarding the way I like to write, as well as the way that I

learn, which became an obstacle for me to overcome since this class shows a more collaborative

side of writing. While I succeeded in being open to a different, more social writing process, it

was significantly more difficult for me to stop procrastinating, and I sometimes did wait until the

last minute to complete assignments. As I progressed as a writer throughout this course, I also

developed some new reading strategies. Since this course required me to read and analyze more

difficult texts, I often had to search for definitions and spend time to understand what the author

is trying to convey. Unlike before, when I would often read texts briefly, I now take a greater

amount of time reading and analyzing texts before I write and try to ensure that I fully

comprehend the text. While I have not achieved every goal I have set throughout the course, I am

proud of my growth as a writer and specifically the way my perspective on writing has changed.

This new outlook will help me progressing into ENC 1102 and other future courses that involve

any form of writing, as well as beyond college within my career because writing skills are a

necessity in the business industry, which is what I am currently planning on majoring in.

Beginning this semester, I was unsure of what to expect in terms of feedback on my work

since I have not taken a writing class like this one in the past. While I knew I would obviously be

given feedback by the professor, I wasn’t familiar with a lot of resources to assist me in

reviewing and editing my work. Thankfully, I had the opportunity to have my work peer

reviewed in class, but besides this I also learned about the UCF Writing Center, which can help

and give me feedback on my work to aid in my revision process. Prior to this semester, however,

I would not find interest in something like this because I did not understand the importance of

revision. While I would look over and correct local level errors, I would rarely revise globally

because it was hard for me to understand ways that I could make my ideas clearer. After reading
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Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult Writers by Nancy Sommers, my

understanding on the process of revision was deepened significantly. When Sommers describes

writing as “a repeated process of beginning over again, starting out new” (387) it helped me

comprehend how writing should be interpreted as a continuous cycle, rather than a linear path.

This new view on revision aided me in editing my “Discourse Community Analysis”, as I went

back and tried to ensure that all of my ideas were conveyed clearly the best I could, however, I

am aware that I can continue to revise this essay in the future. When revising this work, it was

surprising to see my progress as a writer in just a few months, it is clear that my knowledge in

writing has grown significantly. In revising my “Language and Literacy narrative”, I could see

that my understanding of my overall writing process and revision process increased throughout

the semester, because there is less of a need for global revisions than in my “Discourse

Community Analysis”. Doing the revision for this portfolio has helped me see my strengths and

weaknesses as a writer, and understand what writing process is most effective for me.

Reflecting on the “First Week Worksheet” that I submitted at the very beginning of the

semester, it is clear to see my perspective on writing has changed significantly. When asked

about my ideal writing process in this assignment and what I should know about it, I said that “I

think I will be expected to know how to properly write down and organize my thoughts prior to

writing and how to properly structure my writing.” (First Week Worksheet). Since completing

this assignment, I have learned that obviously there is much more to my writing process than just

the planning and inscription aspects. As outlined by Paul Prior in Tracing Process: How Texts

Come into Being, most writing processes include some mixture of invention, planning,

composing, editing, and revision (171). My perspective on the process of writing was very

different prior to this class, and much more close minded in a sense, however, in reading the
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assigned texts, I have gained insight into the ways that others view writing and it has helped me

in developing my own views. For example, when Prior says there is “certainly no way of actually

capturing everything that goes into producing even a single text” (168). This suggests that there

is a lot more that goes into creating a text than I had previously considered., and I will transfer

this knowledge and perspective into ENC 1102, along with my new writing skills and practices.

While I have gained a lot from ENC 1101 I think that my biggest takeaway about writing is that

there is no such thing as “perfect writing”, considering this has helped me immensely since I

have always felt quite unsure of my writing skills.

I think that this new knowledge and perspective will help me tremendously in future

writing courses. This class has not only aided in my acquisition of knowledge about writing but

has actively made me change my writing habits, allowing me to create overall more intellectual

and developed work. When working on essays in high school, I often waited until the last minute

and did not take the time to plan or revise significantly. Now when I work on papers, I usually

take the time to plan by starting many weeks before the due dates and spend much more time

rereading and revising my papers. I am happy to have developed a better relationship with

writing so early in my time in college, since this was a major struggle for me in high school and

something that I was extremely worried about going into college. I hope to keep this momentum

going into ENC 1102 and to continue to develop my relationship with writing throughout my

time at UCF.

Works Cited
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Sommers, Nancy. “Revision Strategies of Student Writers and Experienced Adult

Writers.” College Composition and Communication, vol. 31, no. 4, 1980, p. 378.,

doi:10.2307/356588.

Prior, Paul. Tracing Process: How Texts Come Into Being. University of Illinois at

Urbana-Champaign.

Wyche, Susan. “The Subject Is Writing .” Time, Tools, and Talismans, 2006.