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July 1, 2009
Must Love All Writing
Ralph Fletcher’s What a Writer Needs is going down as one of my favorite books. Fletcher
writes in a way that is compelling and entertaining while it is informative and interesting.
Reading through his book got me thinking a lot about my own habits as a writer. Fletcher’s book
validated my current writing habits while pushing me to think about writing from other angles.
In this summer’s institute, I’ve realized that I’m the kind of person who likes to write lots and
lots all once and then edits it down later. This was something I knew before I came in, but I
didn’t realize just how much this technique meant to me until we started writing all the time. I
also remembered that I like to write in long stretches of time instead of breaking up my writing
into small chunks scattered throughout the day.
I think the thing I am best at as a writer is managing my time. I know this sounds like it’s
really not related to writing, but I feel that a lot of my best work gets done when I schedule time
in my process to be away from my writing. After I’ve had the time away, sitting down to write is
easier and more productive for me. I don’t dread re-reading what I’ve finished so far and I find
that I’m full of new ideas. In the introduction of his book Fletcher writes “no element of writing
can exist in isolation” (4). I would assert that the same is true of writing itself. Usually people
do not write just for the sake of typing words or moving a pencil across paper. Rather, they write
to capture a moment, to express an opinion, to fulfill a requirement, or to answer a question,
among many other reasons. Writers who are not experiencing life cannot grow as writers
because their experiences aren’t changing, adding to their thoughts and perceptions.
I think I’m really hard on myself both in my writerly life and my personal life and this is the
thing that I have to deal with in my writing. I’m always tempted to wait until I have the perfect
sentence to put anything down on paper; I don’t do this anymore, but I sometimes agonize over
July 1, 2009
whether what I’ve written is good enough to keep. Joyce Carol Oates once said that we don’t
know where our writing is going until the last sentence is written, and I totally agree with that.
My problem is sometimes that last sentence changes everything and I want to call the pieces I
don’t use “bad writing,” although that isn’t necessarily what it is. I have been lucky to have
good writing mentors. I think Fletcher would agree with me when I say that a mentor can make
or break a writer. For me, a mentor who is overly critical of my work is detrimental. I need
critical comments, but I also need someone who is willing to praise my work.
My weaknesses come through in my teaching in the ways I encourage process writing and
show my students where the potential is even in a very sloppy draft. I’ve realized during this
institute that I use my own weaknesses to center my goals as a teacher. I try to think about what
I need as writer and provide that for my students immediately, adjusting my methods as I learn
about the needs of each student.
Some of my students have the same fear of writing a less-than-amazing sentence on the first
try. I remind these students that in writing, nothing has to be permanent and that part of the
process is thinking through things that may not find their way into the final draft. Fletcher
suggests that writers write without worrying about the quality of the end product too early in the
process. He also notes the importance of carefully choosing words and phrases. He seems to
imply that balance is necessary: a writer must be impulsive and sometimes reckless as well as
pensive and careful.
Throughout his book Fletcher validates student writing by showing it in it’s original form
(with mistakes!) right alongside “professional” writing. I really liked this because it helped me
think of things I’ve done over my life as a writer and made me feel like I already knew what a
writer needs simply because I am writer. Ralph Fletcher gives confidence and courage to writers
July 1, 2009
at any stage in their lives while also asking them to re-consider their previous notions in an effort
to expand and improve their work. Reading his book has made me a better writer and a better
teacher of writing thanks to all the examples and analyses he provided.
Mode: Personal reflection
Media: notebook and pen, computer
Audience: myself, my students, fellow writers
Purpose: to analyze my own writing
Situation of writer & writing: written during the second week of CRWP, just after finishing a
thesis defense and changes resulting from the defense in an attempt to apply the reading to
my own writing. Writing this response helped me formulate a clear idea of what Fletcher
meant to me personally as a writer and a teacher of writing. The writing is the result of my
own experiences, but also the questions provided to help prompt a response.