Taking into account what I have learned about 'reading like a writer', I ask
myself, "what does this mean to me?" Well, the first thing that pops
into my mind is confusion. How can you read like a writer? How is this going to
help me when it comes to drafting the first part of my memory essay? When
reading a paper "as a writer", certain aspects stick out more than
they normally would. I look at word choice and why the writer has chosen that
particular word. What were they feeling at that time? Also, I can pick out the
main idea of the paper, almost as if I can work backwards and pick out the
specific conventions they used and why. It helps me out when I started my first
draft of my essay because it shows me how a finished paper should look like and
how I can get there step by step.
The first draft of an essay is easy. Writing down ideas as they come to your
mind (other than freewriting) is the most stress-free step of the process. I don’t
have to worry whether or not the right words are used or even if the spelling
of certain words is correct, although spellcheck is a helpful tool! :)
After peer-review and other proofreading steps, I can see piece become more
chiseled to perfection after all the unnecessary words are taken out and the
structure takes its form; ideas become more clear and the reader can hopefully
see exactly where I was coming from and feel the emotions that I wanted them to
feel.
I haven't read the text, yet so I'm not sure what techniques were used. But
as soon as I do, I'll work on applying those to my drafting process.
