In E. Shelley Reid’s “Ten Ways to Think about Writing: Metaphoric Musings for College Writing Students”, she emphasizes that writing can become unnecessarily hard when we are more concerned with following rules rather than writing from our hearts. All the “don’ts” can cause writer’s block and allow people to shift their attention to something other than their paper. This is something that the majority of students have struggled with. When writing, it can become a chore to sit there and try to check off every box on a list. You might know exactly what you want to say and the process could all be ruined by the smallest things. Thankfully, Reid developed different strategies for us to utilize. She provides real world examples and clearly explains what she means by what she’s saying. I was so surprised to actually be engaged in what she was talking about. Not only was she relatable but what she said made sense. I feel like she really put time and effort into being specific enough with her details for readers to understand.
Prior to reading this article, I had a basic understanding of how my papers should be written but the majority of that was based on old rules that basically shouldn’t be in use anymore. However, Reid was able to get me to think more about what is really important in writing and should be included in my papers; her ideas were penetrating. Overall, writing can definitely be complicated at times but if we apply these skills we will be able to improve our writing.
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