“<\/em>I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.”<\/em> A younger me learned to love deadlines, too, but for a different reason. A deadline was the only thing, I mean the only thing, that could force me to draft a piece of writing.<\/p>\n As a top-notch procrastinator who submitted assignments just in time for deadlines, I wondered why I struggled so much to get my thoughts down on a page. Why was drafting so hard? The \u201clinear\u201d process of writing: choosing a topic, generating ideas, planning, drafting, revising and editing \u2013 seemed easy enough.\u00a0 What was it about the drafting \u2013 the movement of fingers across keys, translating ideas into text \u2013 that made it so painful?<\/p>\n Almost 25 years ago, I attended the 1993 ATESL (Alberta Teachers of English as a Second Language) Conference, eager to learn how I might teach writing better (and how I might write better myself). I attended Ernie Hall\u2019s excellent presentation. He explained the cognitive processes writers engage in. He described the heavy demand these processes place on writers and that these contributed to writers\u2019 frequent pausing.\u00a0 He outlined the following intricate purposes for which writers pause as they draft: search, plan, evaluate, describe, question, and revise.<\/p>\n We search for new ideas and the words to express them.<\/p>\n While we plan before we write, we also plan as we write. We consider order and arrangement of ideas. We plan our next steps as we draft, for in drafting, we gain insight into order and idea development.<\/p>\n We pause to judge as we draft. We wonder if it\u2019s good enough. We critically analyze what is on the page before moving on. As a result of a pause to evaluate, we work back through our draft, revising and rewriting what we have already drafted.<\/p>\n We pause to wonder as we draft. We ask ourselves questions as we write. \u201cHow do I know that?\u201d or \u201cWhere did I read that?\u201d or \u201cWhat else do I know?\u201d<\/p>\n We pause to fix. We fix content, organization, word choices, sentence structure, grammar, and spelling. We revise so much that we forget to draft.<\/p>\n We pause but decide to proceed, to move on, to continue drafting. We may worry that we might forget the reason we paused. We capture the essence of our struggle, perhaps via track changes: \u201cAdd a citation here\u201d or \u201cFind more data for this argument\u201d or we open an additional word document to note issues we face as we draft. We keep drafting, though, trusting a solution to the problem will emerge as we go.<\/p>\n Writers employ strategic pauses, meaningful pauses, necessary pauses when drafting. Writers pause for a reason.\u00a0 I had always thought that my pauses meant there was something wrong; that I couldn\u2019t write; that I had nothing worthy to say. Now I understand the cognitive processes drafting involves. When drafting, I pause and analyze my pause. I strategically search, plan, evaluate, question, revise, or proceed without solution. Drafting is hard work because it involves constant, relentless monitoring and management.<\/p>\n I still love and need deadlines to get started on my drafts.\u00a0 However, understanding drafting\u2019s complexity and the intricate decision-making it involves helps me embrace the process, capturing my ideas into text just before the deadlines whoosh by.<\/p>\n As the Manager of the Centre for Academic Communication, Nancy loves working with her CAC team to support UVic writers, collaborating with UVic partners and faculty. As an EAL Specialist, she\u2019s taught international students for 25 years, in both public and private institutions.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" By Nancy Ami “I love deadlines. I like the whooshing sound they make as they fly by.” \u2013 Douglas Adams A younger me learned to love deadlines, too, but for a different reason. A deadline was the only thing, I mean the only thing, that could force me to draft a piece of writing. As … Continue reading Purposeful pauses in writing<\/span>
\n<\/em>\u2013 Douglas Adams<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca\/gradwriters\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2029\/2017\/06\/Nancy.jpg\")
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