Professor Rollins
ENG 1302
20 November 2018
Discussion Activity # 11
As I reflect upon my writing process during this course, I realized that I have learned more than I ever imagined. The chosen texts, coaches and instructors have more than met my expectations for this course. Regarding peer review, I feel fortunate for the opportunity to help my fellow classmates. In fact, reviewing others papers and providing feedback has been so enjoyable for me, that I look forward to exploring this process in a professional and career setting. I put an immense amount of time into review others projects along the way and worked hard to provide encouraging, detailed feedback with suggestions on revision. In turn, I feel that most of the feedback I have received has been very cautious and guarded with a cheerful, “great job, you met the expectations” feel and not filled with as much effort and constructive critique as I had hoped. However, on the “mapping the issue” assignment, one of my peers provided great feedback and caught some errors that I had overlooked. It was very helpful and inspired me to rethink the way I presented my three points and allowed me to make corrections before the final submission. I just wish I had received more feedback that met the assignment expectations in all of the required reviews.
This course presented a new challenge for me when thinking about the writing process. Having a newborn son, who is my first child, I really didn’t know how this process would work in my new world. At first, I thought that he could rest in his rocker with a toy, next to me by the couch in the living room when he was awake and I could write. He could still see me, I could rock him with my foot and all would be perfect. He is a great baby, not fussy and advanced for his age. Well, he has the most killer smile at two months old, loves to “talk” and have a “conversation” while hanging out at my side. It’s very hard to ignore his cute antics. I felt that I was splitting effort between him and my schoolwork, which didn’t meet either needs fully. Not fair at all. Plus, sitting on the comfy couch in front of the television, was not a good idea for this sleep deprived new mom. I found it very hard to get motivated and stay awake.
I quickly realized that we needed a new plan. So, in the morning I wake up at 4:30AM, give him his breakfast bottle and put him back to bed. Then while he sleeps from 5:30AM to 9AM, I drink my coffee and submerge myself in this class sitting at the kitchen table. I found that I do some of my best work in the morning before the sun comes up and it sets the rest of my day up for success. I do the same routine in the afternoon for an extended nap time. When my husband gets home from work at 6:30PM, he takes over care of our son and prepared dinner, which is usually when I wrap any thoughts up for the day, proofread and submit assignments. Sometimes, if I am knee deep on the pursuit of an idea, I eat dinner and write at the same time while my husband and infant go to bed, leaving me a quiet house to work into the night – sometimes into the early morning hours. I find that sitting at the kitchen table lets me pause to gaze out the window and collect my thoughts and it’s close to the refrigerator for hydration and snacks. Also, it’s close to the laundry room, so when I feel like I am stuck, I go throw another load of laundry in and when I am folding adorable little infant outfits that say “don’t worry, my mom’s a nurse!”, I somehow find my way back on point.
This routine works not only to provide me with the ability to completely focus on research and my thought process but I found that walking away and coming back to my writing through the day, helps me proofread my work better and it gives my brain a break. Sometimes it’s necessary to take a step back, take a break and return with a set of fresh eyes. I have such an attack mode of tackling projects, it’s sometimes hard for me to stop in the middle of something and force myself to take a break. This course and my son have given me much insight to a better way of executing the writing process.