Something to keep you busy and happy over the weekend ... also (and primarily) a review of your reading assignments in our textbook.
Re-read Chapters 1 and 2 of "Writing to Deadline" by Don Murray. Post to your blog a paragraph or two in answer to each of these questions:
1. Murray identifies and passes on several tips or processes that have helped him as a writer, starting with his habit of "writing" away from his desk (i.e. figuring out how to organize what he writes, word choices, etc.), on pages 16-17. Analyze your own writing processes as a communications student and therefore an apprentice professional writer, and compare them to Murray's. What tips can you pass on to other professional writing students?
2. What specific ideas in Murray's discussion of his writing practice and his interviews with staff writers for The Boston Globe can help you with your own writing? What specific ideas or anecdotes in their stories can help you develop your own sense of professionalism?
Read the chapters over the weekend, post a draft to your blog by class Monday and have a final draft of your post completed and edited by Wednesday.
TEACHING B/LOG started out as a classroom teacher's journal/log with notes and comment on the politics of higher ed and learning outcomes assessment at a small liberal arts college. After several years on hiatus, it was revived in 2014 as a portal to updates and commentary on corporate school "reform," politics and the creation of a hereditary aristocracy in 21st-century America
6 comments:
A few tips that I can give to other prof. writers are always meet your deadline first and foremost. Also, you need to write things down, rehearse what you are going to say, and edit everything. Have someone else besides yourself edit your work, because you can be very bias in looking at what you have written yourself.
Basically, with Murray's ideas, as above the number one idea is to meet the deadline. As he stated in the book, it is "career sucide" not to do so. Also, you need to find your own voice and style of writting, and not try to copy another person, but to just be unique.
(Rough Draft)
I think Murray's tips were helpful and make a lot of sense. I would say I use most of his tips listed in the book. My biggest problem is trying to make a story short and to-the-point. I thought his section "Less is More" made a great point. I think I could use that the most.
Sometimes I forget to edit my work. Usually, I am running late and that is the step that gets left out.
A tip I can pass to other writers is to do your work as soon as possible while ideas are still fresh in your mind.
Murry Said that writing is "a logical series of language acts that anyone who can write and read what they have written can perform." His tipare to _know your limits, Rehearse, Focus, Select and Develop, Order, Write Fast, Write out Loud, and Edit.
I would have to adoopt everyone of Murry's tips. I would probably really stree the tip on write out Loud. I think that listening thoroughly is the key to news writing. Often times I have remembered things that I did not write in my notes. One tip that I would add to Murry's would be "Don't be subjective" and never Filter out information when you are recording.
A few tips that I can give to other professional writers are always meet your deadline first and foremost. Also, you need to write things down, rehearse what you are going to say, and edit everything. Have someone else besides yourself edit your work, because you can be very bias in looking at what you have written yourself. So set your ego aside, and let someone that knows what they are doing "destroy" your work.
Basically, with Murray's ideas, as above the number one idea is to meet the deadline. As he stated in the book, it is "career suicide" not to do so. Also, you need to find your own voice and style of writing, and not try to copy another person, but to just be unique. Let it come naturally and don't try to hard, because then it might not sound the way you want it to. Just be sure to always write and practice.
(Final Draft)
1.) As a communications student, I learned several tips about the process of writing from Murray in chapters 1 and 2. The main point Murray stresses is that writers get writing done because they have deadlines. He explains that the term, "deadline", comes from an actual line drawn outside of prison's walls. When prisoners crossed the deadline, they were shot dead. Murray says that he feels the same way about a writer's deadlines...they must be met or the writer will face professional death.
I would pass on many of Murray's tips to other professional students. A few that I think are most important, are to rehearse and edit. To rehearse your writing means that you should reflect on the subject matter. Murray shares that he did most all of his important writing away from his desk. This was because he took time to sit back and think about the subject he was going to write about. If given a 3 hour deadline, he would rehearse, or think about the subject for an hour and a half, write for an hour, and edit for a half hour. This is a process of writing I think every professional student can learn from. The editing process is extremely important for every writer, and is most often the step that is skipped because of a lack of time.Every writer needs to allow time to stand back review their writing. You need to answer the reader's questions, clarifying, cutting, correcting, and polishing the writing. Rehearsing and editing are the 2 most important processes I would pass onto others.
2.) Murray's specific idea that will help me the most in my writing process is the idea that less is more. I often times have a tendency to write more than what is needed. I use too many words, and talk around the subject instead of just getting to the point. He talks about when he started as a reporter at the newspaper, he discovered many things. One of which was the respect for specific detail. He says that he didn't lose his love for words, he just learned to focus that love for words on the specific details that needed to be stressed.
During his interview with David Mehegan, Murray asks the questions, "How do you prepare to interview someone?". Mehegan responds by saying, "I need to know enough about what I'm writing about so that I don't ask questions that make me look foolish...but, I do not worry about being ignorant because my theory is taht we are all professional ignoramuses, it's our job to not know something and then to find out". I think this is great idea for writers to remember, especially new, inexperienced writers just beginning their career. The goal in interviewing is to find out what you don't know. There is no reason to feel ignorant when answering questions, afterall, that's what the interview is meant for...questions and answers.
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