1	The Writing Process Hannah Scholten
2	Peter Elbow The process that I am outlining in this presentation is adapted from the ideas of Peter Elbow.
3	Table of Contents Process not product Emotional connection Prewriting More writing Rewriting Finished? Get Started
4	Process Not Product How you get there is more important than where you get The writer creates the meaning…this means you! Writing is about expression
5	Express Yourself What do you want to express Think about your life experiences Write what you know (or convincingly “fake it”) How do you want to express yourself What style of language Rhythm, rhyme, imagery?
6	Emotional Connection Get in touch with yourself Don’t be afraid of yourself Remember, meaning only comes from you If you won’t connect with your audience why should they connect with you?
7	Audience is Emotional Ask yourself questions: What do I have to say? Why should people care? Why should they read it? How do I hope it will affect them? You don’t always have to write for an audience, but you should consider these questions if you are trying to get published.
8	Not Your Grandparents Prewriting Just write! (Peter Elbow) Just get going without thinking about form, technicalities or even content. Freewrite This is the professional name for the process above. Designate an amount of time and write without stopping, or too much thinking until time is up. Don’t rush yourself, but don’t stop writing/typing
9	Center of Gravity According to Peter Elbow, after freewriting you should be able to pick out a center of gravity. This just means a main point/focus for your piece. Ask more questions: What did you write most passionately about? What did you say the most about? What train of thought makes the most sense to you?
10	More Writing Keep writing once you’ve found your center of gravity Try to keep your thoughts a bit more focused this time, but don’t worry about anything else. Set another time limit for yourself if you need and have fun.
11	Repeat and Repeat This freewriting and center of gravity process can be repeated as many times as you need. Don’t limit yourself, if you feel like you need more time…take it!
12	Rewriting You’ve already done a lot of rewriting, I know. For formal rewriting focus more on editing aspects: Look for awkward language Sloppy sentence structure Awkward transitions or overblown language Sparse language Grammatical and technical mistakes
13	Read-a-Loud Read it out loud to yourself Silly? Perhaps. Effective? Yes. You will hear any mistakes that your eyes may have missed. Also give it to a friend or family member to look over for you.
14	Finished? To be or not to be? Are you ever finished with a piece of writing? For the sake of grades you have to be. Keep working at home You can resubmit a piece up to 3 times if you are unhappy with your grade.
15	Finished! (But get started) Rough drafts will be due in two weeks. So head out and enjoy the writing process!