New Page: Metaphors about the Writing Process

I’ve added a new page to my site with quotes and metaphors about the writing process. Okay, there’s a fair number of similes too, but similes are a type of metaphor.

The first semester I taught a college writing class, I got to the day I was supposed to teach about writing process and thought, I don’t know how to teach this.

A visual metaphor for how I feel when I don’t know how to teach something.

Other parts of argumentation feel much more concrete and learnable: for example, you can clearly look at the examples a writer used to support their argument and analyze why they did or did not work.

Yet you can’t look at the final piece of writing and see the processes or strategies it took to get there. You may be able to tell if it was rushed or hurried, or sloppy and undeveloped thinking. But if it’s good writing, the process is basically invisible.

In regards to writing process, there are principles I believe firmly hold true: write everyday, if you’re going to procrastinate then do so wisely, research early and deeply, and turn off your internal editor while you’re writing a first draft.

Now you can say those things about writing, but how do you teach them, remember them, ingrain them? To me, that’s where metaphors about writing really come in handy. For example, if I think about writing as exercise, it makes sense that I should be writing everyday: I wouldn’t compete in a 10K without running regularly in advance.

So head on over and check out my page about writing metaphors. It’s a work in progress that will continue to evolve.

Image Credit: Sybren A. Stüvel, Creative Commons license