I, like many other students, am a magnet for tangled thoughts. Whether I am writing a blog post or an excerpt paper, finding the right words to convey and confronting them during revision tends to be staggering. As I continued reading Berkenkotter’s work, I felt entranced by the importance of her naturalistic study and the information explored. As stated, “This project stirs the dust a bit.” (Berkenkotters, 156).
Donald M. Murry, the laboratory rat, as he states hilariously in his response, is the subject of her project. When discussing his planning activities, she concluded that revising and planning were two inseparable concepts; She deemed the activity as reconceiving. She states, “To “reconceive” is to scan and rescan one’s text from the perspective of an external reader and to continue re-drafting until all rhetorical, formal, and stylistic concerns have been solved, or until the writer decides to let go of the text” (Berkenkotter, 162). I found this particularly interesting because it is a problem I tend to run into often. When revising, I frequently find that I should have written something differently to express a goal. Something I need to work on is putting the audience on a higher pedestal when writing.
I also just wanted to mention how hilarious it was to read what Murray had written when. explaining the concept of death to 11 year olds. Berkenknotter’s then goes on to explain his personal experience with death. It just made me recognize how much the experiences of writers play a part in their methods.
Being two months into ENG 2020 has just thrust my interest towards the writing process in ways I never expected. Reading about Murry’s experience only enhanced my interest further. I think this is why I enjoyed annotating on Hypothes.is. It was a glimpse into other students’ methods of the writing process. I always think about how Plath held her thesaurus close when writing The Colossus. I feel like keeping a thesaurus handy for writers is such an abstract concept to include in a writing process, yet the legendary Plath used it t write such great work. Unfortunately, Plath continues to say she couldn’t bear to reread those poems, I love that collection profoundly. When thinking of our classes next paper, although anxious, I am quite excited to see what my tangled thoughts will produce.
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