Looking back at my Why I Write for Gateway, I notice a lot of things. I had a lot to say, and it’s evident in the writing.
But one of my favorite parts of my pieces was the following chunk:
“Once I start finding associations, I run into more. It’s the chase. It’s a web that never ends. I could do this thinking in my brain, but how could I keep track of it? The web is infinite, so jumping from once place to another without at least keeping an eye on the initial or ending place or any of the stops in between is dangerous. It’s like those conversations you have with your best friend that result in questions about how you got on the subject in the first place, leaving you both confused and disappointed by your inability to backtrack and recover any of the beautiful ideas that were elicited mid-conversation.”
Well, I at least like the idea of it. As Ray mentioned a few weeks ago in our class, writing helps us to think critically about things. It’s difficult to develop a deep understanding of something without writing it down. I think a lot of that has to do with the statement I made above. It helps you track your thoughts and keep your point A and point B in your head simultaneously.
However, I might have been wrong. Maybe I don’t do that as much as I should. Going back to my first challenge journal, I discuss how difficult it is for me to write poorly (once again, not because my work is always good but because I have trouble just getting thoughts out). So maybe this really is something to work on.
Due to the scale of this project, I believe I’ve progressed in this area. There were many nights I needed to generate pages worth of content, but I knew I didn’t have time to fuss over the wording of every sentence, so I just wrote. This is a habit I hope to get into when I’m not pressed for time. Allowing myself to write poorly just to get the thoughts out there.
So maybe the idea I had of why I write from before was kind of wrong. I do love writing for its exploratory nature, but I need to utilize that more for sure. And the first step is writing poorly (put simply). Yay!