Rewriting-- A necessary, but sometimes painful process...

In chapter twelve it lists many helpful tools for rewriting, but the process isn't always a simple one as it appears to be outlined in the chapter. Many students that I work with believe what Lindemann states, "Rewriting is a dirty word. It's a punishment, a penalty for writing poorly" (189). I can understand this concept because I use to feel the same way until I learned to ask questions about my writing, and why and how to improve.

Students that I work with and tutor want to get through the writing process in order to complete an assignment and rewriting isn't part of the deal. I agree with Lindemann when she states, "If we're going to spend the time it takes to offer student's sound advice, let's offer it when it does some good, when students are still working on a project, not after it's finished" (204). I believe if we develop this process as teachers, then rewriting would not seem so painful.

Rewriting is not always on my list of priorities when I first draft and compose a paper. I have realized over the course of my undergraduate studies, that it separates experienced writers from inexperienced ones. For example, I composed a research paper for my English 501 course that I am also using to present at this year's Student Research Day. In the process of rewriting, I had to strategize about how to condense a twelve page paper into five pages. One might think you can simply cut and paste, but this isn't always the case. Because I have narrowed down my topic even further in order to condense the paper and to deliver the same message to my audience, I have had to rewrite sentences, reconstruct paragraphs, and delete some things that may have seemed important in my inital paper, but could be more adequately stated.

Another concept that Lindemann points out that I agree with is, "We also can share our own writing with students, explaining problems we encountered and how we resolved them. This last suggestion is especially crucial for students who believe that writing is a magic talent peculiar to English teachers and novelists" (195). I believe that this is crucial to the development of student writing. I know that it helped me to relate to the teacher not only as the instructor, but as a writer who has faced and mastered many difficulties that I have. In tutoring students, what I have found to be beneficial, is when I share my own difficulties and problematic areas in my writing. I also share things that I have done to overcome such problems. The response that I usually receive is a positive one. The confidence of the student increases and what appeared to be a monumental task of rewriting, becomes a task of pride and putting forth their best efforts.

Rewriting is a necessary tool and a process that is developed the more you continue to write.