Liz Funk

Liz Funk was a very different person then I expected after researching her online. While I may not enjoy her genre of writing, I did find her comments beneficial. Learning about professional writers and their writing process is very interesting and the more I hear about it, the more I think about how I might enjoy being a writer...one day. Funk made the entire writing process seem easy and almost made it seem like she had not faced a lot of obstacles.

Today's Class

So I wasn't really sure what to expect from Liz Funk's presentation today, especially after hearing Janisse Ray speak. Although I am definitely not looking to get published in the future, her talk was still fascinating. I imagine that it was helpful for those people that are hoping to make a living as writers (it's just too bad that there weren't more aspiring writers there). it was interesting, though, just to see someone who is pretty much our age, who is so successful already. It really inspired me to start figuring out what I want to do, and to get started on it now. She really showed that you can start your career even while you're still in school.

grow up?

Registration is coming up and I find myself be bombarded with the question " what do you want to be?" In the past my answers have ranged from doctor, EMT, psychologist, teacher, writer, or rich person. I am a freshman in college now and have narrowed my answer between writer and something with psychology. After hearing Liz Funk talk today I thought it was very helpful and inspiring to my dream of being an accomplished writer. She gave great advice to us on how to get started and where to look for help. However, I also took note to the fact that being a writer is very difficult way to make a living, especially since it's a warning that it's often given to me. Which is where my interest in psychology comes in. I think the mind is fascinating, I love how it is so abstract and yet still concrete and powerful. It reminds me of poetry. The problem is though, now, is choosing which one I should put first. Writing is such a big part of me so it would be a shame to push it to the side, but I need to be able to make a life for myself and I want to help people. I never really put much thought into the question of what I wanted to be when I grew up but I always had an answer. It's weird, and somewhat scary, having to truly face the inquiry and not having an answer at the tip of my tongue.

Yesterday I spent the better part of my day sitting in the library writing a short story. It was not for a class, it was not for a distraction during class, nor any other academic reason. I had an idea that I have been trying to figure out what to with for a while and I finally just took the time to run with it. It was very satisfying to take some time out to write without having any sort of deadline or a professor staring me down. Usually when I write I am never satisfied and/or I just get frustrated in knowing that no progress will ever be made, and therefore was a waste of my time. However, after reading some of the stuff by Liz Funk and knowing that she is a young, published writer is very encouraging. It gives me some hopes as to eventually, maybe, possibly being a published writer myself. It is also part of the reason why I have decided to stick with my spontaneous short story.

Response To North's Essay

I actually got into this paper, and was pretty passionate about what I was saying, so I'd like to share it.

Andrew Fleming

WRIT240—Professor Liptak

Response Paper “Idea of a Writing Center” by Stephen North

Stephen M. North’s “The Idea of a Writing Center” was a very enlightening read for me. I think the primary reason I found it so compelling was the fact that it dismissed many misconceptions I had about writing centers and their purposes. I was always under the impression that writing centers were supposed to serve as a place to get your papers “corrected”. North clearly becomes infuriated anytime he hears of a writing center being equated to this sort of “fix-up” shop for writers. Rather, North asks, even implores, his audience to view writing centers as “an institutional response to all writers’ need for a personal auditor—a teacher, a classmate, a roommate, an editor—who would not only listen but draw them out, ask them questions they would not think to ask themselves.”

After reading this essay, I wholeheartedly agree with North’s philosophy about writing centers. In my eyes, it is not a writing center’s job to simply pick papers apart with red pens, and then call the next innocent student in for the “slaughter”. This approach often leaves writers disheartened and unmotivated, and it fails to promote growth. Instead, it simply defines the “rules and regulations” of writing, and points out a writer’s failures to adhere the curriculum.

Rather, I, like North, feel that writing centers should assist writers in their personal writing processes. By having a tutor ask questions, the writer may find new direction and inspiration. Also, this method allows for writers to feel more engaged in their personal writing and editing process. It is a far more constructive approach to writing as a process, and encourages writers to utilize writing centers through positive inducement, rather than negative inducement.

However, even this approach has its flaws. These flaws can be attributed to what I feel is a “totalitarian” mentality that is not restricted just to English, but is interdisciplinary. That is, that even in the “open-minded” environment one finds in a writing center, the ideas and thoughts generated in an effort to foster a writer’s work will be dominated by the “rules and regulations” of institutional English. For example, a writer may bring an essay assignment to a tutor at the writing center. While that tutor may help the writer under the conventions of North’s “new writing center” philosophy, the assistance they provide that writer will be adhering to guidelines that will satisfy the requirements of a given curriculum. It is my belief that, inevitably, most tutors will give advice that will improve a writer’s chances of receiving a “good grade”, whether they are conscious of it or not.

While I completely agree with North’s philosophy of how a writing center should work, I am skeptical that this philosophy can ever be implemented in its purest form. Nevertheless, “The Idea of a Writing Center” provided me with useful insight that positively enhanced my personal view of writing centers. It is my hope that English and writing centers, can progress beyond the institutional confines of what defines a paper as “good or bad”, and embrace a philosophy that appeals to enhancing creativity and personality in writing.

WRIT240

As the semester has progressed, I have noticed that this class has payed many dividends to my overall writing. WRIT240 has caused me to begin examining my own writing process more carefully, and I often find myself questioning old habits and techniques. I have begun to pay more attention to my pre-writing process, and I feel that it has become more involved and technical than ever before. I now actually write down ideas before starting a paper, and I think about a paper for a few days before I even begin writing it. This class has caused me to become more introspective with my writing than I have ever been before, and I hope that I continue to grow and develop as a writer as the semester goes on.

Reading in class yesterday...

I am so excited that I got to read everyone my piece for my independent study. I thought your feedback was great, and I'm already working in the parts suggested. It meant a lot to me to have such positive responses from the class, and it really was a confidence booster to sending the writing out.
I was really nervous that it was not good enough to be sent out, however, I think that reading it to my peers was very helpful in realizing my potential! I may be rejected a few times from the big publishing companies, but it was nice to have a group of people willing to listen. I hope that with your edits my paper will improve and stand a better chance at being published!
Thanks again!

Writing Center

I made it to the writing center for my second observation. For the most part the session went very similar to the other session I observed. I was a little disappointed because I was hoping to learn new skills from the tutuor, but in truth the session was a little boring. The student came in with an assignment for foundations that asked her to explain a religion. She chose the Episcopalian religion, and the paper became less and less interesting as the tutor read on. It was strictly a fact based paper, so she needed help with organization and flow. The paper sounded more like a book report than an essay; I'm not sure if she wasn't following directions (she didn't have her assignment paper with her) or if her Foundations teacher was just looking for a list of facts about Episcopalians.
Either way, it was a very short session because there was little to correct on the paper. During my last session, I observed Mike; he was able to make helpful suggestions about the writer's analysis and word choice, however, with the type of paper the writer brought in for this session, I don't believe there was really much advice to give.
The tutor explained how not to repeat certain adjectives and nouns, but other than that, there was little else to the session. Other than the issues my tutor covered with the student, I wasn't able to think of anything else that should have been touched upon. The student kept explaining that the numerous points she had in the paper needed to be covered in the three pages, so there was little room for expansion; it seemed the student had expanded every way possible without going over her page limit. It was a strange paper to edit, because, other than mistakes in grammar and word choice, there was little structure to the paper because it was so fact based.
I was wondering if the Writing Center gets a lot of papers like this. I assume that there is always something to correct on a persons paper, as there was with this one, however, with such little information to work with and absolutely no analysis, I could see how this type of setting would be difficult for a tutor.

Liz Funk

The fact that Liz Funk is our age and publishing material already, including a book, is pretty crazy/impressive. While I have come to terms with the fact that I will probably never get published, I enjoy learning about the writing process none-the-less. I find the lives of authors to be very interesting as it is something that I would like to do, but do not think will ever happen.

Liz Funk

As I looked through Liz Funk's articles, blogs, and her novel Supergirls Speak Out, I came to the realization that she is my age and already successful. I perused a couple pages of her novel on amazon.com and I was instantly drawn in. I think I will probably either buy the book or spend a day in Borders reading and sipping on Starbucks. I look forward to her coming to our class and asking her questions all about her success, why she wrote novels like this for girls, and if she feels she missed out on anything in being so successful at a young age.

Late Comment on Janisse Ray

I really enjoyed hearing Janisse Ray speak, a week ago? Two weeks ago? The past few weeks have been a blur of assignments and midterms, finishing one only to start the next right away. I really enjoyed hearing what she had to say and I feel as if she was very honest when it came to her writing and her experiences. I have to admit that I am a little jealous of her travels when she was younger and I too plan on teaching abroad upon graduation. The fact that she said her writing is sometimes very bad is encouraging. Sometimes I write and have to erase an entire page because I feel as if it is not good. The fact that a published writer faces the same problems is encouraging.

Indecision

As I sit here at my desk on this dreadfully bleak Sunday afternoon, I'm indecisive about which piece I am going to bring in for Tuesday's class. Currently, I am only in the beginning stages of writing a few final papers (ie. coming up with topics!) and feel that it would be more beneficial to bring in a piece that already has some structure. This decision has led to me thumbing through a few of my poems that I had planned on submitting to the Pendragon, looking for something to have my reader work with me on. If only I could narrow it down...

Liptak finally contributes

I wrote and saved this a few weeks ago, and forgot to finish it up.  So here it is:  We're about a third of the way through the course, and I have to say that I've really enjoyed it thus far.  Most of the students seem to feel comfortable with sharing their opinions and experiences, and for the majority of time I feel as if they're all attentive (with the exception of some texting going on - ahem!) and prepared.  It is such a pleasure working with such engaged students . . .

I've been reading and commenting on the first set of papers that were submitted early last week.  I'm trying something new this semester, and I'm a little nervous.  Not because I lack confidence in the results, but rather because I'm not sure how it's going to be received by the class.  I am going to refrain from giving the students a grade on such "high stakes" writing assignments, and at the end of the semester, I will ask the students to resubmit the originals (with my comments and feedback) along with significant revisions, and then I will assign a grade accordingly.  In essence, the students will be asked to submit a portfolio, which will receive one grade.  

Hopefully along with my narrative comments, the students should have some ideas about revising their essays.  I am hoping that such an evaluation system will encourage students to focus more on revisiting and improving their pieces, rather than on their grades.  Yes, there ultimately will be a grade - it's hard to escape that - but for now, I hope that some pressure is relieved and that this will positively benefit the students' writing by giving them more freedom to take risks . . .

On my end, this is actually quite a bit more work.  It already takes me approximately 45 to 60 minutes to read and respond to one draft.  Because I'm not giving a grade, I feel as if my narrative feedback has to be extensive . . . Maybe individual conferences will be more practical the next time around.  We'll see.

I hope that some of the students comment on this post, for I'd like to get feedback on my proposed evaluation system. 

    

I am very frustrated.  I submitted a proposal for a competitive conference - the main national writing conference in the country - and it was accepted.  Accepted last September.  The conference is next week.  Yes, I've had all of this time to work on it, but with work, kids, finalizing my dissertation that I'm defending in April, and have I told you that I own a restaurant?, I've been swamped.  I also cannot find any info on my topic - I mean very, very, very little.  This has led me to procrastinate, and thus I'm going into this feeling very underprepared.  It's tough when you can't find "experts" to back up your thoughts.  I also am not sure if I have an innovative approach to solving the problem that I pose in my proposal.  While I have a very loose draft, I need to have it complete by Sunday so that I can polish on Monday and Tuesday.  Aarggghhh!   

Today I was able to finally make it to the Writing Center. Going into my observation I was not sure what to expect. It was really a good experience for me to see a tutor in action. So far I have only read about what writing centers are like and what goes on in them, but for me it was really cool to sit inside and get a feel for things. The relaxed setting and good attitudes of everyone there made it not just a comfortable environment for me, but more importantly for the writer. I picked up some great tips watching a tutor in action, and I look forward to my next visit to Siena's writing center.

I loved hearing Janisse Ray speak about her passion for writing in our last class. I've never met a published author, and it was so interesting for me to hear her speak about her editing and publishing process. As a senior, I am looking for some direction in life and trying to figure out what I'm going to do out of college, so I was so excited to hear her answer the publishing questions. I write a lot of short fiction and I never know what to do with the pieces I am really proud of. I'd love to be published one day, but it seems so out of reach. Janisse Ray really helped me understand that I can be a published writer, and most importantly, informed me about the processes of sending writing to publishers.

class today

Hearing from a published author was quite interesting. I have been to many seminars and lectures with major authors both in high school and in college, but never on this intimate level where an author came to a small class and did a discussion. I enjoyed hearing about her passion for the environment, and I feel that when you are so passionate about something it just makes your writing that much better on the subject. I would have like to heard some of her letters that she wrote to major corporations just to see how she expresses herself in an argumentative manner, but I can respect that those are personal manners that she may not want to share.

writing process

I realized that when I write I am all over the place. Finding the "center" that we always talk about in class is something that I can easily do with an academic paper because I have a definite thesis, but when it comes to creative writing I seem to lose focus. Does a creative piece necessarily need a definite focus? I am not sure if I agree entirely that creative pieces need to have an in your face type of focus- I think that as long as the writer expresses the point they are trying to get across then that is what is the most important.. maybe I am just missing the concept of finding a "center" or maybe I already do that and I, myself, just cannot see it.

writing process

As I am putting on the finishing touches to my writing process essay I find myself feeling strange as I analyze my own "technique." I never really thought about the different ways in which I approach and write my essays for school. It's kind of weird. This self-assessment of my different and random writing procedures shows me that I should probably develop a more concrete writing process for when I am assigned formal essays. Then again, if something works, why question it?