"Write Early, Revise Often" ..... Is it really that simple?
Throughout
junior high and high school, I was placed in all honor level programs from math
to history to even science. I was very lazy throughout my academic career and
never took any classes too serious because I always got A's and B's even with my average work ethic. I did enjoy the classes a lot but all
the homework that was piled on was so stressful. I had to force myself to do
the homework and it usually took up most of my school nights because I always
waited last minute. However, in writing courses I wasn't in honor level classes and
it sort of made me mad because I had been in honor classes for practically
every other subject (not trying to brag). This made me feel as if I was a bad
writer because I couldn't get into the honors level writing course.
I
accepted my role of being a sub-par writer because I didn't place in the honor
program. All throughout high school I would write a 1 or 2 draft paper and turn
it in as is, never really thinking to draft multiple times to perfect the
paper. I would get B's and C's on almost all papers and I accepted that because
I thought I wasn't smart enough to get into an honors writing course. I knew I
was a bad writer and accepted it.
Fast
Forward to College Writing 1. Dr. Kyburz told me, "Write Early, Revise
Often". I thought at the time it wouldn't be that simple. After hearing
that quote I decided to use that quote for my next paper. I wrote my rough
draft the day the paper was assigned and brought it in for peer review. Not
only this but Dr. Kyburz also edited for me with many constructive criticisms.
I took all these revisions and drafted another copy of my paper being slightly
more confident in my work. Then after being told in every class to utilize the
writing center, I decided to try it out, which gave even more criticism. After
about 2 more drafts I was feeling very confident when the due date came around
and it was time to hand in the paper.
I
now view writing papers as a process like climbing a mountain. There is a lot
of difficult work to do before you finish. But, when you do finish it is
extremely satisfying to see all the hard work pay off. Drafting multiple copies
of my papers was difficult but it paid off in the long run.
I
used to think of myself as a terrible writer and writing papers was my weakest
attribute. However, after going through Dr. Kyburz class I have discovered that
writing papers is about how much work you put into it, your paper will never be
perfect the first go through and making many revisions and drafts is necessary.
"Write Early, Revise Often". It is really that simple. The earlier
you start on a paper the more drafts and edits you will get making your paper
better and better each time. I now know that I wasn’t a terrible writer before
I just never reached the full potential of what my papers could have been. I
see writing papers as a process that could have landed me in an honor level
course if I had used Dr. Kyburz advice earlier on.
