Nicolas Acha

Professor: Stella Maris Saubidet Oyhamburu 

LEE 4- 41 

April 20, 2014

Portfolio

Writing and Writers are a Must

When I was given the assignment of writing some kind of composition with the heading “writing and writers are a must” and all the freedom to write whatever I wanted, I thought that it couldn’t be so difficult, just try to think a few peculiarities about writers in general; what is it that moves a writer to write and share his work, thinking on their context and personal experiences, but then I found that it was more difficult than I was expecting. I started writing something about what would it be like to sit in front of a blank shit of paper and try to write, finding myself in the same position. Then I tried to write about the qualities that a writer should have and later about the importance of putting down in words your ideas. These were three different attempts that led me to a dead end road. It was time to hand in the papers and I didn’t even have a draft, but thanks to the teacher’s explanation, I realized that it was impossible to write without considering what type of text you are writing and who the audience will be. This awareness raising exercise carried by the teacher was significant for me in the sense that my failed attempts to write are a proof of how important it is to have these aspects in mind in order to produce a communicative piece of writing.

      In order to write a good piece of writing, there are certain steps followed by writers in general. The writing process involves the steps of:  pre-writing, drafting, revision, editing and publishing. During the pre-writing step the writer finds the topic he wants to develop through free writing and brainstorming, based on the audience and purpose of the writing. I believe that I was not able to overcome this first step in the writing process because I did not know whom I was writing to and with what purpose. The lack of a specific audience and purpose makes impossible the selection of the topic and ideas to develop, as well as the register and form of the writing. 

This picture taken from my notebook shows my failed attempts to make a draft.