Gabriela Gonzalez

RWS 1301-16107
9/20/15

Who You Are as a Writer

Portrait of a Writer
To me writing is the last thing I would ever want to do, as in I would rather sit through a
pre-calculus class over writing a paper. With that throughout this paper I will discuss my attitude
towards writing, what my writing process is, and how when I am revising I do so with knowing
that I am making my paper better.
Ever since I can remember I never really had a good attitude towards writing and that
hasnt changed very much from how I feel about it today. I remember in 3rd grade my teacher
would always push me to write in my journal during our creative writing time and I hardly ever
wrote any long stories or anything good. Until one day I started writing this story of my cat and
his adventures with a neighborhood dog, and the teacher was so surprised of it she showed it to
my parents to show how I was improving in my writing. Although since then I havent ever been
inspired to write anything like that again. Due to my attitude towards writing I dont really see
myself as a very strong or good writer. This did change in high school when I took an AP English
class and in this class is where I really started to actually view myself as a pretty decent writer
with all thanks going to my teacher, Mrs. Donaghy. One assignment we had to do was to write an
argumentative paper defending our opinions on certain political issues, and on the revising part
of my essay Mrs. Donaghy pushed me into really utilizing rhetorical devices to make my paper
stronger. By the end of the assignment I was surprised by how good of a writer I really was.
Because of this experience I really enjoy writing argumentative essays.

Gabriela Gonzalez
RWS 1301-16107
9/20/15
In school they teach us the writing process which is a general plan on how we should
start our essays, but this has never worked for me so I have my own writing process. I would
describe my writing process as little planning and very relaxed. Before I begin writing I make
sure to make my environment as relaxed as possible, by getting comfortable on my bed with my
laptop and picking out a good playlist since I always have to have music playing. After I get nice
and comfortable I start rereading the guidelines and deciding on how I will make sure to include
each one. Also, by little planning I mean that I make a general outline of my ideas and thoughts
on how I want my paper to look like then I just start writing my essay. My outlines usually
consist of a page of just topics and a sentence of what I want to start off with, because its not all
that detailed it doesnt take me to long to come up with. The planning part of a paper isnt my
favorite, because Ill become so focused on how I should start my paper that I just end up getting
stuck without having written a single word. Because of this when I have to write fairly lengthy
papers I wont begin writing them until about three or two days before its due.
While I write I really tend to remember the rules I have put on myself and the ones
professors or teachers have put on me. For example, a few rules I keep in mind as I am writing
would be staying on topic, making sure your message is clear and concise, and using correct
grammar. When I focus a lot on grammar I tend to second guess myself constantly and go back
and change or erase things as Im writing which can ruin my train of thought. When I focus on
staying on topic and getting my point across clearly it deters me from rambling or adding things
that just wouldnt belong in my paper. If I do end up rambling or adding something extra that my
paper could do without, I know that when I revise my paper I can always cut them out or change
them.

Gabriela Gonzalez
RWS 1301-16107
9/20/15
When I do start to revise my paper I tend to focus on what can make my paper better as in
what can I change or cut that will make my points seem stronger and get across more clearly. For
instance, I will ask myself how and where I can use pathos, ethos, or logos throughout my paper
so that I can really capture the reader. I also see if Ive made any grammar mistakes or if I made
good word choice, because the words that you use can really have an impact on how your
message gets across to the reader.
To sum up my essay, I dont enjoy writing which is why I have such a short planning
period and I know that if I do make some mistakes along the way I can always go back and fix
them.
Autoethnography
Session 1: Home. Its late in the afternoon. Im the only one home. I have music playing in the
background. My phone is close by but it is on vibrate. Oakley, my dog, comes in and out of my
room.
1-5: Read over the assignment and wrote questions down in my notebook. I decide how to
organize questions into paragraphs. [GP], [OB], [RD], [RQ], [M]
6-10: Start writing and answering first question. I pause and think about what stories I want to
include. A reread a sentence out loud because I think it sounds weird. Oakley keeps whining and
its distracting. [RO], [PS], [RR], [PET], [M]
11-15: I wrap up my first paragraph. Oakley continues whining over this whole 5 minute chunk
and I decide that I need to take him outside. [PET], [WS], [BR (+)]
16-20: Leave to go take my dog outside.
21-25: Come back in and I check my laundry.
26-30: Get back to my laptop and regather my thoughts. I look at the questions I want to include
in my second paragraph and think about how to answer them. I start to brainstorm out loud about
how in school we are taught the writing process. [O], [GP], [OB], [T ->W]

Gabriela Gonzalez
RWS 1301-16107
9/20/15
31-35: I dont feel comfortable with a sentence so Im thinking of changing it. After saying it out
loud I decide to change it. [RO], [RR], [PS]
36-40: I ask myself how I prepare to write my papers. Reply to my friends text. [WS], [Ph(-)],
[OB]
41-45: Read over what I just wrote to help me think of how to keep writing. I think the way I
wrote this sentence doesnt make sense. [RE], [RR], [A(-)]
46-50: Still trying to decide on how to make this sentence sound how I want it to. Im
reorganizing the structure of my paper. Oakley is a huge distraction. [PET], [RE], [Q], [PS]
51-55: Another sentence doesnt seem to make sense. Figured it out and it now makes sense.
[RO], [RR], [R]
56-60: I read over the questions I want to answer in this paragraph and brainstorm out loud what
I want to include. Read over my paragraph. What rules do I follow? [WOL], [T ->W], [RO]
61-65: Pause and stretch because Im stuck. Reread over my rules and think what else I can add?
Oakley starts whining again. Figure it out and keep writing. [RO], [BR(-)], [PET], [PS]
66-70: Put Oakley out on the patio to stop bothering me. Im worried about length of paper.
Reread the sentence to help me think of what else to say. [PET], [PS], [RO]
71-75: What I focus on when I revise. I read out loud for inspiration. Make comment on how I
cannot spell that day. [RO], [Q], [C], [PS]
76-80: Im in the zone and close to wrapping up my essay. Check my phone for messages. Does
my paper need a thesis statement? Reread all of my paper to make sure its what I want to say.
Finding things I can fix. [PS], [Q], [Ph(-)], [R], [RR], [RE]
81-85: Rereading things and fixing up my paper. [RO], [RE], [PS]
86-90: Silently reading and editing. I think of conclusion and introduction. [WS]
91-95: Thinking of rewriting this sentence about my class in high school. Sounds weird when
read out loud so Im changing it. [RR], [RE], [RO], [R]
96-100: Deciding on if anything needs to be added and what other revisions need to be done.
Read my intro and see how it sounds. I celebrate because Im finally done with my paper. [R],
[WS], [RO]
Session End

Gabriela Gonzalez
RWS 1301-16107
9/20/15
This paper is about my real writing process and how viewing my real process made me
feel differently on how I am as a writer. I will reveal my thoughts on the differences and
comparisons I found in my Portrait of a Writer, which described my view of my writing
process, and the video I recorded while writing the paper.
Ive always done my papers, my homework, and any studying in my room on my bed
with music playing in the background at all times. For me this creates a really comfortable
working environment where I dont feel like I have to keep moving around like when Im in a
desk, or keep thinking about how quiet it is. This has never affected my writing process and I
actually think it helps me with it by eliminating a lot of distractions. I do think that the time I
decide to write probably affects me more because sometimes I will begin to write at night and it
makes me feel pressured to finish quickly so that I can go to bed. This kind of pressure makes
my papers sloppy and doesnt present the potential that I may have in my writing.
There were a few habits that I had noticed when I reviewed my video and they were that I
edit quite a bit, reread things aloud until they make sense, and I constantly make sure I am
following the plan that I made before I began to write. There are different ways that they help
strengthen my paper and there are ways that they weaken my paper. For example, editing as I go
along with writing my paper is helpful because there is less to revise when I finish and go back
to look for errors, but the time I spend on editing is harmful because I could lose my train of
thought during this time or get stuck on just editing this one sentence. I also noticed that in my
writing process I skip some elements that are in the process that had been taught to me in school.
One of these steps I tend to avoid doing is prewriting, in school my teachers always stressed how
important it was to prewrite but I almost never do it because to me it seems like a waste of time

Gabriela Gonzalez
RWS 1301-16107
9/20/15
and overall extra work. Although, at times I do see why it is such an important step that teachers
stress.
While conducting the analysis of my video I saw that what I had described to be my
writing process was just a bit different than what I had witnessed in the recording. One difference
I saw was that in my essay I said I edit as I go along but I dont take that much time on one
sentence, but in the recording I was astounded to see the actual time I would spend on rewriting
or rephrasing a single sentence. I was also surprised by how much I doubted myself as a writer,
and how often I would stop and make negative comments about my own writing. To see this
constant self-doubt was really shocking because I had this notion in my mind that I was quite
confidant in myself as a writer, but the recording showed the reality that I am not as confidant as
I thought I was and that I was doubting the way I expressed my thoughts which was
disappointing.
After seeing the recording and comparing it to what I wrote in my Portrait as a Writer, I
am more aware on what my strengths and what my weaknesses are as a writer. Some of the
strengths that I discovered were that I stay focused on the topic at hand and that I am open to
reorganizing my paper when I feel the need to. Some weaknesses that I had found were that I
doubt myself tremendously which makes me stop and reread what I wrote constantly throughout
my writing, and that I spend a lot more time than I had originally thought on editing. This last
weakness really made me think of Tony from Perls research paper. In my blog post I had said
that I wasnt all that similar to him and after this analysis I came to find that I actually had a
more similar process that Tony had even though I dont spend nearly as much time as he does
when editing.

Gabriela Gonzalez
RWS 1301-16107
9/20/15
Doing this assignment was a huge eye opener in how I perceived my writing process to
be and the reality of how it really is. I think after discovering all these new things about my
actual writing process I will want to make changes in order to improve it and strengthen my
writing.