Process Writing Questions

1. What obstacles or assumptions about writing and research do you hold that may intrude on your success as a writer? For example, do you assume that you first need to do the research and then the writing? Are you uncomfortable writing without having thoroughly completed the research?

2. What social supports can you establish to promote regular writing? Can you arrange, for example, to discuss ideas for writing projects with informed friends? Do the people you live with respect your need for quiet time when developing projects? Do you know people who can provide you with encouragement when you are feeling discourage about the worthiness or potential of an idea?

3. What specific strategies do you typically employ when revising your work? What changes would you like to make about how your revise? When revising, are you willing to reject what you have written and start fresh with a new organization or a new thought as necessary?

4. How would you describe your typical writing voice, persona, or style? When you sit down to write a research report, what sort of style do you hope to present?

5. Complete one of the following sentence fragments:

• The biggest editorial problem that readers have identified with my work . .

• The problems that I want to work on are . . .

• Readers always tell me I should...

6. What strategies can you employ to help you accomplish your writing goals? For example, can you demystify the composing process, overcome negative thoughts, structure your time differently, engage in more (or less prewriting), separate editing from revising, and spend more time revising documents?

7. What changes can you make in your environment that will help you achieve your writing goals? For example, can you find a way to minimize distractions, or is your writing environment too quiet for you? Do you need a better light or a software upgrade?

8. What self-talk can you identify that intrudes on your productivity? For example, does a small voice within you whisper that your ideas lack originality or that the teacher or editor will dislike your manuscript? Do you tell yourself that you lack the time or ability necessary to get the work done?

9. What myths about writing or scholarly research do you hold that intrude on regular writing? What changes in how you write will help you achieve your writing goals?

10. How has rejection in the past influenced your perception of yourself as a writer? How has the fear of rejection influenced what you write about? In what ways do you attempt to work with your intuition when writing? If an unrelated thought occurs to you when you are writing, do you tend to ignore the thought or do you pursue it and question how and if it relates, after all, to your subject?