Read and Remix #7: Bedford Book of Genres Chapter 9

Reading chapter 9 of the Bedford Book of Genres directly confronted some of my confusion about the process of writing and revising our projects for this course, as well as affirming some of the reasons that Mat constructed this course to allow for constant revision and development of all of our projects. It mentioned that what we refer to as the “shitty first draft,” such as that we created for previous blog posts and in-class assignments, is professionally called the writer-based draft. Its purpose is merely to create tangible writings that express our most prevalent ideas, only to be remixed later into a more cohesive, well-versed piece. The revision stage of writing is said to take the longest, and can be approached in multiple ways. For instance, stepping away from your writing for a few hours and then coming back in a clear-minded space is the first step in identifying what needs to be improved in your writing. After this, peer review is key, which further reiterates the lessons we learned in Strozier Library last Wednesday, which encouraged peer-reviewed scholarly works as the most credible sources. This chapter of the textbook helped reiterate some important strategies that we are taking on in this course, as well as explain new approaches to modifying and improving your work and trusting the process.