This Writing Process

Reading the struggles of people who have established their voices in academia, especially Richard Rodriquez and Barbara Mellix, is a step in the right direction when trying to figure out how to teach a writing process. These two have gone through cultural and personal conflicts that students may or may not relate with, but the overall idea is conveyed that each individual must find their voice. Language is a huge part of that voice, along with knowledge. A voice without knowledge is not saying much. Knowledge without a voice is pretty boring.The collaborative efforts of learning, language, opinion, experience, failures, successes, these things lead us to be better writers. Being a current grad student, I find myself thinking about my own writing as I read these articles, for the main reason that I believe we should always work to improve our skills. The day I think "I have arrived" is the day my faults will show the most. Being someone who wants to teach literature and composition, I read these articles and log them into a register of experience. These writers' experiences are now available for me to share with others. Take for example Joy Santee, who did not know what to tell her student, a single-mother with two dependents to take care of, when it came to finding a writing process. Reading her story means as a professor I will encounter walks of life I have never experienced, it also means I will collect experiences along the way and source from them. Now to define my own writing process.