MIS Communcation Links

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0263786311000779

http://www.sciencedirect.com.proxy.lib.iastate.edu/science/article/pii/0378720689900050

Portrait of a Writer

            Algebra, statistics, chemistry and physics; if you are like me these were your favorite subjects in school. Your favorite subject was definitely not history, English or creative writing. But English is one of the most important subjects in school because no matter what career path you choose or where you go you will use knowledge you learned from your English class. It even helps you learn other languages because many languages have similar grammar rules and concepts. So unfortunately everyone has to take English. For those that excel in English, writing is a breeze. The ideas, the grammar and the vocabulary come easy. For everyone else, staring at a blank screen and putting it off until the last minute is common.

            The problem with this is that as human beings we love to compare ourselves to everyone around us. Who’s smarter, funnier, better looking and nicer are some of the most common ways we compare ourselves to everyone around us. Add who’s a better writer to the list, and you have a good representation of me anytime I try to write. I know I wasn’t born a writer and therefore don’t write if I don’t have to. The only time I enjoy writing is when I am writing on a particular topic or issue that I am passionate about. I like to write about technology, religion and even political issues on occasion. Other than that I don’t write. Unless you count really long text messages which most of the time I try to talk to them on the phone before I send a 1,000-character text message.

            In my last blog post I realized that sometimes I choose not to write just because I don’t think it will be good even if the topic does interest me. It helped me to realize that I will never know the outcome if I never try. The only thing left is to find ways to connect with the topic of the paper to make it interesting for me. For a research paper or papers with more flexibility that should be pretty easy but a literary analysis or a documented essay? I don’t think so. So I decided there must be another way to get me motivated to write these types of papers.

            As I was thinking about this I started thinking about how I brainstorm and what I do for prewriting. To be honest, I can’t remember the last time I did any kind of brainstorming on paper or wrote down ideas before starting to write. Usually I go at it right away and figure it out as I go. In other words, I take a long time to write papers because I’m constantly changing my ideas and the organization. I edit the paper as I write it so by the time I’m done I usually call it good and don’t want to even look it over because I didn’t want to write it in the beginning and I definitely don’t want to write it again.

            For all I know, I could be a pretty decent writer but most of the time I don’t give myself a chance to do my best because I don’t have the patience for the amount of time that it takes to write a paper. It’s not the grammar or spelling that gets me because I actually do really well whenever I am tested on either of those. I also like editing other people’s papers and have done it numerous times for my younger sisters because I have a pretty good sense of when something doesn’t work or doesn’t sound right. It really comes down to thinking of ideas and putting words on paper in a way that gets my message across and is worth reading.

            One of my goals for this class is going to be pushing myself to put more effort and thought into my writing. To spend more time brainstorming and also writing all my ideas down on paper so that I can refer to them later. Most importantly, I’m going to work on managing my time better and planning a schedule so I don’t procrastinate and write the whole thing a few hours before it’s due. While I do work well under pressure, it doesn’t work for my writing and my ideas are generally incomplete. Even worse, I don’t get to finish writing all the things I should have because I run out of time. Right now you are probably hitting yourself thinking, “Why would you wait until the last minute and then not even finish your essay?” that’s a good question, I don’t have a good answer to that other than I just didn’t want to do it. It’s not like I plan to wait until the last minute; when I get the assignment my intention is to start it right away but something always comes up and no matter what it is it takes priority over writing a paper. Same with the brainstorming, it crosses my mind but then I convince myself it isn’t going to help much and so I skip it.

            If you related to any of this I hope you decide to change your ways and see what you are truly capable of. Give yourself a chance because you won’t know what the world has to offer until you put yourself out there. I haven’t even been in this course a week but I already feel like I have come to realize a lot about myself as a writer. I’ve admitted my weaknesses as a writer and now I hope to turn those weaknesses into strengths. Maybe I’ll even start to like writing but I think we can both agree that’s a stretch.

Thought Piece on Goodman's article "Calming the Inner Critic and Getting to Work"

I have never been someone who enjoys writing. When I get a writing assignment I put it off until the last minute because in my mind I think: it’s not going to be good anyways so why spend a lot of time on it or write multiple drafts? “Calming the Inner Critic and Getting to Work” by Allegra Goodman gave me new insight into this dilemma I have with writing. My inner critic tells me “you are not good enough.” As I compare myself to famous writers in history and the authors of my favorite books I realize I have nowhere near the amount of creativity they have. But Goodman’s article covers all the excuses one could think of for procrastinating or not finishing one’s work. When I run out of ideas I will go out into the world and just observe instead of racking my brain and staring at a blank screen. All ideas come from past experiences and knowledge throughout one’s life. Just by observing the world you have access to an unlimited amount of information and ideas. This is where writers get their inspiration. Once you have the ideas the only thing holding you back is your natural desire to sit inside your comfort zone where no one can see your writing or judge you for your writing. But the world has endless opportunities and you have the ability to create brilliant and original ideas. By sitting inside your comfort zone you are keeping those ideas locked inside and no one can benefit from your knowledge. Each person is unique and will have different ideas from the next person so give yourself a chance. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose. If no one likes it, just try again. Maybe the world just isn’t ready for your brilliance yet.