“Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer, an article by Carol Berkenkotter explores the writing process and the importance of planning and editing in writing. Berkenkotter explains her findings after investigating Donald M. Murray’s writing process. While exploring his process her focus was on the planning and revising process of his writing. Berkenkotter analyses Murray’s writing processes and believes that a more naturalistic approach is more effective. Unlike Murray she believes that writing is more than just the end-goal it about the journey. Donald M. Murray is an author who came up with the theory of “bathroom epiphanies” which is when a writer comes up with great ideas while doing something unrelated to writing. Planning and revising are critical elements of the writing process because they influence the quality of your writing. To understand the process, you need to break down these two components to see how they influence the writing process. Berkenkotter studied Murray’s writing process through observation, documenting his thought process by having Murray record himself thinking out loud as he wrote.
Carol Berkenkotter’ research proved that experienced writers like Murray also had issues with writing, it also showed that Murray did not just jump right into the writing process he spent time planning, revising and rewriting. Perfecting his work along the way. Reading this article makes me thing about my own writing process. I think about the revision process, it’s not my absolute favorite thing to do but I know that it needs to be done to perfect my writing. Revising can be tedious and requires lots of patience, but it is a critical part of the writing process.
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