Personal Essay

I am not a creative writer. My writing process is markedly different from those of the creative writers. I cannot and have not produced any writing spontaneously except the responses in quizzes and sit-in exams. Even those answers are not the original and creative ones but the reflection of what is read or consulted as a part of preparation.
I had also not heard much about writing theories before joining UL though had some preliminary ideas of effective writing, writing modes, discourses in disciplines, communicating across cultures, and aspects of rhetoric and style. My writing is, thus, not much informed by writing theories. However, I instinctively follow different stages of writing activities, that too, depending on the types of writing. Writings that require fieldwork, journalistic writing, writing in profession or work place writing and academic writing involve different stages of writing in different degree. Though they all follow almost same phases, there is considerable difference in the labor and time invested in each of these stages. For example, some of these writings require higher degree of research, observation and planning while some others demand much labor in drafting and still other types need much refinement therefore more revision and editing. But after all, all of them involve prewriting, drafting and editing stages.
Which stage requires much labor and time in my writing process mostly depends on the type of writing undertaken. If the writing in question is one of technical and professional, it involves more time in the drafting stage for the format or model of such writing is always available and what I need to do is to draft the matter in such a format. Thus drafting takes more time than either of prewriting or revision. But, for instance, if the writing demands profound research including the identification of the topic to devising the methodology to analysis of the data collected from the field visit and interviews or other medium, in such cases, prewriting stage requires maximum labor and time. Similarly, some kinds of writing need relatively more time in the revision/editing stage. The example of such writings can be personal narratives and essays, which do not require the background work but may need polish and refinement including the organization and coherence.
Whatever the types of writing, I tentatively follow the stages of prewriting, drafting and revision/editing though not in strict linear order. Most of the times, these stages overlap each other. What I generally do is collect the background information from the relevant sources such as library, online or field visit before venturing the writing activities. This stage may also include the identification of topic, audience, methodology or purpose, which largely determine the tone and language of writing. In short, I gather relevant information and data necessary to begin drafting in this stage.
In the drafting stage, I try to put the information, ideas and data in a certain order and coherence so that writing reads well and makes sense. I also determine what data or information go where and the thesis and supporting evidences in this stage. Thus, I select the pertinent info and data and organize them in certain order so that the writing makes point.
The next stage is one of editing and revision. This stage involves adding, deleting and moving the words and sentences to make the writing sensible and refined. This is also an attempt to make the writing more scholarly, coherent, organized and effective. So I do editing at the level of diction, sentence and paragraph and sometimes the entire writing.
Though prewriting, drafting and editing are the tentative stages of my writing, I, however, do not follow them in a linear order. They overlap and criss-cross one another. Sometimes, I do editing while drafting if I feel that the word or the sentence I produce does not make the right or good sense. Similarly, I go to the sources to verify or look for more info while editing the written text if I feel doubt on them.
Thus my writing process is haphazard though it involves usual stages of invention/discovery, background study, drafting and revision.