In a past blog, I talked about how I am a high maintenance writer. I prefer to write alone, in a secluded and comfortable environment. However, I am not a high maintenance revisionist. After I have finished writing, I turn to my friends, parents, classmates, and even my professors to ensure that my writing is the best it can be. It is through this collaboration that I am able to find the failures within my writing. When I revise on my own, there are some grammar errors, typos, or sentence fragments that I am able to catch myself. However, others reviewing my writing has become my way of gauging audience reaction and understanding. If I am writing a piece to a larger audience and my friend says they couldn’t understand something, I know I must fix it. However, if my piece was only meant to be received by scholars knowledgeable in that topic, then I do not fix it, nor would I ask my friend, because my friend is not my target audience.
When I am collaborating with others and they find my failures, oftentimes, I am embarrassed. It isn’t easy to allow yourself to be vulnerable with those meant to critique your work. Yet, I do it anyway because I know they have my best interest at heart. It has taken me some time to begin to understand that my failures do not define me, however, I have realized, they do define my work. That may sound harsh, but I don’t mean it in a negative way. In fact, some of my best work has come from happy accidents. Whether I accidentally word vomited or argued the opposite side of what I originally intended to, there can be amazing writing ideas to be found in both. I may realize I actually prefer the other argument more or hey that word vomit kind of looks like a good idea that just needs some tweaking. A group member may even say, what if you look at the vomit upside down, I think there is something to be found there amongst the chaos. It is because of this, that I have come to enjoy collaboration and what it can provide for my writing. My failures encourage discussions between myself and others, serving as an awkward ice breaker that later turns into a fun conversation.
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