Process Writing

          When writing the pieces we did for the class, there was most definitely NOT a singular process I used for all of them. Each was related to food and/or travel, but each was so different than the others. For our first piece, the memoir, I had to think for about two weeks until I reached a topic. I first began thinking about different places I'd been, and how food had been part of that place...I thought of Mexico and fish tacos, I thought of Spain and the free tapas, I thought of California and Waffle House. I could think of plenty of experiences I'd had with food and new places. I even started paragraphs about a couple of them -- but none of them really took off. I was stuck for a good three or four days, and then suddenly it hit me -- how I realized food's role in my life as a result of not having it. I had completely forgotten about my Yosemite experience, because food wasn't really present for a lot of it. In terms of readers' comments on this one, it seemed like there were a few people who liked an abrupt ending and a few people who wanted more of a sound conclusion. I didn't really want to resolve the piece entirely, as I felt that seemed dishonest to the actual feel of the piece; I ended up adding a bit more, but only some of my inner thoughts about how crazy people were getting. I still wanted to end it on a tense note.
          I like starting off with strong imagery, so that's what I did for the memoir; from there, I just described the day before we got back to civilization and the tension that had built up between us. Once I finally got going, I'd say it was the fastest piece to hammer out for me. It's definitely easier to write when you're reliving the emotions that were part of the situation. The first time we did workshop for people's pieces, I was so pleasantly surprised -- I really liked that we devoted so much time to suggestions for each person, and I really got a good sense of how my pieces were being received/what needed to be changed! It was frustrating sometimes when I couldn't respond or answer questions people had, but I think not being able to defend myself made me really consider everything people were saying; it didn't matter what I meant to say, because what really mattered how the class received it. I liked that we all took the time to thoroughly read each person's draft and then made detailed comments on their blogs -- really useful!
          The perfect meal piece was a little harder for me, but I'm still not quite sure why...I guess I struggled a bit to find an over-arching theme that ran through the whole thing. I think I was trying to make it really genuine, and it ended up not being so much because I was trying too hard. I was going home that weekend, and I was really looking forward to getting out of the K bubble and having a relaxing weekend at home; I expected to have my mom's pizza one night that weekend, and then thought -- I've missed this stuff so much, why don't I just make it and eat at home for my perfect meal? I was the only one in the house while I was cooking, so including a lot of inner-thought in the piece was important. This is where I struggled in this piece, mostly because when writing it I didn't really remember a lot I had thought about...I felt like I was forcing it when I was writing, and as a result I didn't end up with enough character voice during the cooking section. My parents added a lot of that characterization, but it wasn't quite enough. The readers were especially helpful with the piece; their suggestions really helped me sharpen it up, and look for a more grounded theme throughout.

          I was probably the most worried about the restaurant review piece, but it actually ended up being the easiest for me to write! After choosing a cuisine I'd never had, I chose a restaurant, had the experience/took notes, and then the writing pretty much flowed from there. I had taken really detailed notes while at Zooroona, so the hard part was over and I could just tell people what I thought about the place. It was really fun going into a restaurant with the "reviewer" attitude -- I found myself noticing so much more, and made myself order a huge variety of many different items to get a good sense of the menu. I realized how much detail there was to notice, how much there was to write down, and I wondered how Sam Sifton could write such incredibly detailed reviews without giving away the fact that he was a food critic...I found myself jotting down notes every couple seconds, trying to include as much insight about the place that he did in his reviews.