In class-Tips from other writers-Rosen

Lupe Fiasco

After reading the short piece on the hip hop artist, Lupe Fiasco, I learned a few things. Lupe Fiasco makes it very clear that ideas and even the writing process comes to people in different and weird ways. Finding the way the works best for you is absolutely essential. He uses the example of Jay-Z, stating that he can go to a recording studio, write nothing down, and record an entire song. Compared to himself, whom it takes a bit longer to write and record the song. Regardless that Lupe Fiasco is writing music, and I am writing a essay, the principal, and maybe even process, is the same. From this I learned that I need to find my place and process of writing that works best for me.

Grant Achatz

While reading the article about the worldwide renown chef, Grant Achatz, I realized a few important things. Achatz goes into depth talking about the essential elements that he thinks about when creating a new dish. He directly states that some dishes are meant to resemble a season or time. All of this reminds me of my writing. I need to take into consideration all of the elements. What I mean by this is that I need to keep in mind my audience, the requirements, my word choice, and in the end, my entire essay as a whole. Also, Achatz touches on the topic of peer review. He states that before a dish is ever served to the public, the other chefs will taste it and critique it. This mirrors the process of peer review in writing. It is absolutely essential to get another perspective in order to have a sound piece of writing.

T.C. Boyle

T.C. Boyle, a predominant novelist, goes into depth on the growing importance of technology in writing. A point that I thought was very important regarded the simple fact of the efficiency of technology. Boyle states that he used to write everything out, do correction on it, and retype the correction the next day. However, with the convenience of computers today, we are able to do all of the editing on the computer. This creates a lot more time to work and makes it very easy to make corrections. I think I can apply this to my work by keeping in mind time constraints in regards to my method of writing. If I have a lot of time and have a sudden urge to write, I think actually writing is a better process than typing. However, if I am short on time and need to write and edit quickly, a computer is a great resource.