Anne Lamott gives a variety of ideas and useful advice. Out of all advice given, there were a few pieces that stood out most in my mind. Remember that all people experience panic moments when trying to complete an assignment. Therefore, continue on completing an assignment one step at a time. Also, always write first drafts. With them your writing can only improve. And never forget that having someone to read and kindly critique your draft is detrimental to deciding how close to conclusion ones novel is.
Depending on the assignment helps to determine whether group work can fail or succeed. Roskelly seemed to have many different opinions on the subject of group work. The main problem that he brought to my attention was that someone always seems to do the majority of the workload when in a group setting. According to Roskelly it is usually one of “the smart kids” that is forced into the group leadership role. This ends up entitling them in doing a larger majority of the workload. By forcing a large amount of a project on one person, no other group members really benefit from the educational experience and they still do not seem to understand the true meaning of what “a group project” is suppose to be. In contradictory to all the negatives Roskelly elaborated on, there is what I believe to be a better positive in regarding to the idea of group projects. Within Roskelly’s stories, a large number of people seemed to believe that group projects when they were younger helped them to become the writer they are today. By participating in group projects at a younger age, it can help the person to develop better as a writer and understand and learn different writing concepts and ideas from their peers. This in turn can help a student to grow into a strong individual writer.
Kate Ronald gives her opinions from a writing instructor’s point of view. She expresses her thoughts and views about the writing process. Ronald goes over every step she believes is important to achieving a personal best work. No longer does she find it appropriate to use the word “I” in a paper. It is important to create as if you are writing to a particular audience. Writing to a specific audience will help to make ones literary work more interesting and easier to read. She also believes in practicing writing habits outside of school, reading ones work out loud as creating it, and writing in your own personal style. While Ronald expresses that people should write in their own personal style, she has her own problems with style. In her past she had been told she had issues with personal style, yet that seems to be her main topic of discussion. Everyone has their own unique and personal touches to their writing, and as long as people keep emphasizing those in their writing, they will continue to have and use their own style.
