My Process And Welcome To It

            The experience of taking several weeks to compose the Literary Autobiography was not only enjoyable, but productive.  First, I was forced out of my discomfort zone of doing minimal prewriting prior to drafting.  I had had little trouble composing research papers using just an outline because I had always done extensive research and annotation, but this subject matter required a different approach.  In particular, I had trouble remembering many of my earliest experiences with reading and writing.  To that end, the invention techniques from Elbow and Lindemann helped me remember events from my literary past and associated feelings.  (Shame is not fun to relive by the way.)  Clustering turned out to be the most useful tool for unearthing decades-old details of my experiences.

            Prior to enrolling in the Rhet/Comp program, my only experience with peer review was in a writing group I attended for several years in the early 90s.  I felt awkward because I was the least experienced of all the writers and didn’t understand how to give and receive criticism.  Dr. Cauthen’s Creative Nonfiction class taught me how to comment on papers, and the friendships I made allowed me to trust the comments of my classmates.  Desiree and Ebony, who were with me in that class, gave clear feedback that never felt judgmental.

            Finally, getting feedback from Professor Cauthen at several intervals helped direct my paper away from “unearned pathos” toward clarity.  Choosing the right events to relate revealed a common thread that wove itself throughout the piece, giving it momentum and a sense of the inevitability of my becoming a teacher.