If you categorize yourself as a writer and you enjoy writing then you will surely identify with the stages of writing. Writing, it is something you like to do yet hate to do at the same time. I myself identify with the different stages of writing as though they were the different stages of grief. They are as follows.
First, comes dread. You don’t want to write anything, just the thought of words is nauseating. Not to mention the thought of actually having to write something thought provoking.
The second stage is procrastination, dillydallying and plain old distraction. This might actually be the most productive time during your stages of writing. You will try to find anything, ANYTHING to distract you from what you have to write. Haven’t cleaned your room in a while, boom, you find that shoe you’ve been looking for…for the past month and a half. Are your roommates mad at you for your insane amount of dishes in the sink? Well guess what, not anymore! Because though you may not have the energy to write that article or type your feature, you have somehow managed to scrape off the hardened cheese from last nights alfredo.
Inspiration. Somewhere after scraping the dishes clean, before you got to cleaning your shower and doing the calculous homework that ended up in front of you, you have finally thought of something worthy to write about! You sit down and start typing. Your fingers are flying a mile a minute. Thoughts can barely keep up with fingers as you rip up and down your keyboard. This is for sure going to be the best thing you have written ever. This, this article is going to make your mom cry.
Fourth step, exasperation. This is turning out to be a lot more than you thought it would. Somehow the ideas in your head aren’t coming out in print as expected. You’re about five seconds away from scrapping the whole idea, but then you remember that if you do that you’re going to have to start back at the first step and who knows if your hands can handle another battle with stuck on grease and the steel wool.
I call this next stage the “Evil genius Stage” or the “Mad Writer Stage.” Though you feeling exasperated, there is a drive and willingness within you to make this piece work. You want to find a way to make your thoughts and feelings connect to other people so they can understand your thoughts and feelings to relate to their thoughts and feelings. Through this drive you make it work. On your final push you are able to connect your concepts and themes. You’re able to get it to a spot where you think others will be able to at least understand what you’re trying to say. This brings us to our next stage the “Ok” stage.
This is the point in your writing where, as the stage names, you feel “Ok.” It’s not great, it’s not bad. You’ve set out to make it work and it does for the most part. At least now people will be able to understand what you’re trying to convey-hopefully. No, it’s not going to make your mom cry, it might make it onto the fridge but barely. Your piece is good enough; people will be able to read it.
The next stage is the stage right before you turn your piece into your professor or your editor or even just close your notebook for your own personal collection. It is (hopefully for the most part) a very short stage and that is the “disgust stage.” You have spent so much time with this piece of paper that you’re tired of it. Tired of your words, tired of your allusions and tired of reading it in your same dumb voice over and over again. You’re aware that you only really feel this way because you’ve spent so much time with it. You know this piece is “ok” which is the only reason you assure yourself you aren’t scrapping it but still you want this stinking paper out of your face.
The last and only thing which you can do after the “disgusted stage” is sit back enjoy yourself. You put yourself through the paces, endured every step of it and now it’s out of your hands- literally. Whatever happens with it may, all you know is that you put your hardest effort into it and that is all that matters. You take a second to reflect and realize that actually you didn’t do that bad of a job. You set out to do what you wanted to do and even through all the agony of scripting it, somehow you managed. Hey, you may even decide you want to do it again, probably not soon though.
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