Discovering, Understanding, and Accepting my Identity as a Writer

For me, this past week has been about self-discovery and understanding who I am as a writer. I very much enjoyed participating in the demonstration lessons that helped us contemplate our own habits, rituals, routines, and processes as writers. Taking time to reflect on my own practice was eye opening, thought provoking, and dare I say, fun. I felt ownership of my small quirks, knowing that as strange as they may seem to others, they made perfect sense to me. And also wonderment. Where did these habits come from? Were they purposeful, learned, intrinsic, “correct”?! One of my biggest takeaways from this series of lessons was the importance of helping students identify their own processes and reflect on their effectiveness. Rather than prescribing a strict set of rules to follow, it makes more sense to help students understand what works for them, and revise these habits if necessary.

Part of this self-discovery also involved understanding that my writing process is not entirely unique. I face many of the same challenges that other writers face, including the tendency to be overly critical of myself while drafting. The Flowers article really resonated with me and defining these distinct voices/roles in my head is helping me reign them in a bit. The snarky voice of The Judge invades my thoughts way too often. Even during morning pages, I usually feel his presence lurking. Now that I’ve identified this habit, I’m working on putting it to rest and letting the madman thrive. I can imagine that some of my students must feel the same way when they work on their own writing. They feel the same frustration and desire to “get it right” the first time that I do. I truly feel that participating in the NVWP and starting to understand myself as a writer will prove to be invaluable in helping me understand, empathize with, and – hopefully – support other writers.