Writing is a lot like jumping into a big pool. For swimmers, it is fun and exhilarating. They can often dive right in without much thought or preparation because everything comes naturally for them. On the contrary, someone who cannot swim cringes at the thought of jumping into a pool. They tend to take more cautious steps toward the water and once they are in the water, they struggle to stay afloat. I may not be a swimmer in the literal sense, but when it comes to writing, I like to dive into the deep end. I ditch the floatation devices, which is fine throughout the shallow end, such as my introduction, but as I swim deeper into my paper I find myself paddling in circles. Once I am submerged in the water, or creative juices, I become distracted by the many possibilities of a great paper. I realize that my urge to jump into the drafting stage is a strength that also becomes my downfall, because I skip the planning stage, which in turn, causes my overuse of revision/editing during and after the writing process.
Drafting is one of the many important aspects of the writing process. It is the writer's chance to combine thoughts and ideas together on paper. Most people look at writing as a grueling task and choose to avoid it all together, if possible. For as long as I can remember, writing, out of all other subjects in school, just sparked a completely different interest in me. The way one person's choice of words can inspire different emotions and opinions in their audience intrigues me. I like jumping right in with an idea of how I want my finished product to look like and ending up with something completely different. My biggest strength as a writer is my desire to begin the drafting stage early on during the writing process. For me, writing is an opportunity to discuss and elaborate on topics and ideas in ways verbal conversation does not allow. It is a writer's chance to pinpoint their flaws and fix them.
