Writer's Block Again

Hello All,

It is a lovely day today at the ASU West Writing Center. I just wanted to start by talking about writer’s block because that’s what I am currently experiencing while typing this blog. So, what better way to get over writer’s block then to write about it? It’s a win-win situation, really. Writer’s block, it’s a dreaded term, but it happens to the best of us. It strikes at the most inconvenient times too, like two hours before your philosophy paper is due, or when you dare to think, “Hey I’ll get this done early,” but alas! Writer’s block hits you square in the face and you’re left staring blankly at your computer screen (or notebook, if you’re old fashioned). Sometimes though, it can be, dare I say it? — Good for you? Sometimes it can clear out all those useless bits of fluff that have filled your head. It can force you to abandon those clichéd thoughts and take on a new perspective. It’s a peculiar thing, writer’s block, but it is as much a part of the writing process as grammar and conventions—annoying, but necessary.

-Haley, Writing Tutor

Don't be Bitter, Reconsider!

If you’ve ever interacted with me, you will know that I like to complain. I like to complain a lot, and complain a lot I do. But at the end of the day it is things that I love – my job, my family, my students/staff – that I complain about, almost to the point that you’d be fooled into thinking that I abhor all of them. Why is that?

It is my belief that it is nature for most of us humans to be blind to the good, rip out the silver lining and tear it up with our teeth, and then pretend that nothing can ever be bright or beautiful or worth appreciating. Certainly the most positive of us have trouble staying positive all the time and will occasionally let a gloom settle into our bones. We all feel helpless at times, and when I feel helpless, I complain. It is my coping mechanism.

I am not ignorant to the fact that there are better coping mechanisms, ones that are probably more productive that listing all the things that have gone wrong today, yesterday, last month, etc. But maybe others are; are you aware of the things you could be doing to improve where you’re at, the outlook you have, or the direction you’re headed?

Today and tomorrow, the staff at the University Academic Success Programs department is helping put on a series of workshops for first-time freshmen who are on academic probation. The program is titled PASS, Pathways to Achieving Student Success. I anticipate that we will all run into a lot of complaining and excuse-making in the next thirty-six hours or so. It is our goal to help re-motivate and re-energize these students who may have lost their direction, who like me find it is sometimes easier to bad-mouth the circumstances than to be proactive about changing them. It is my hope that they find a different perspective today, and that they learn that there are people, staff and faculty, and plenty of resources available to them to help them on their way.

I challenge you, and myself, to stop next time you want to say something negative, and find something else to feel positive about. Let us set an example for others around us who cannot see the good things they have. And when they can't, help them find something to be positive about.

Now that I’m done preaching, a writerly bit of humor to end the week:

Happy Friday, and Happy New Year!

-- Your overly mushy Polytechnic Writing Center Supervisor

Struggle

If you’re like me, all your undertakings probably begin the same way: with low whimpers of anxiety that soon erupt into panic.

On day one, your smile is wide, your handshake firm, your notepad laden with neat lines of memos. There’s too much to take in, but that’s a typical first day, right? By the second day, it’s still too much. The third day promises no better and by day five, even the weekend seems like the comma in a long and tedious paragraph. You lie awake each night, re-imagining the day’s events, second-guessing yourself. How was my paper? How was my presentation? Did I do okay? Did I say anything stupid? Did people like me? Can I do this?

I can’t do this.

Escape becomes your next preoccupation. Like a hunted animal, your thoughts scramble from one safe hiding place to the next.

I could drop this class, I could take it next semester.

I could get another job.

I could postpone that phone call.

Meanwhile, dates and expectations and assignments and meetings crop up, snarling and snaggling and tripping you as you run: they are the thistle and vine, the serpent on her belly. The hunter with his beast.

The thing about running is that eventually you get somewhere.

Artist: Wing Yin Tang 

Slowly, you learn to break the thistle, to untangle the vine, to avoid the serpent and the hunter. To thrive in the forest.

This NPR story describes how different cultures approach the idea of struggle, and how that approach impacts success. Struggle can feel frustrating and scary, but it is a meaningful part of learning. The Writing Center is a safe place to struggle, to say “I don’t know,” to learn.

Come learn with us. 

Writing Center mom's lament

Not five minutes ago I ran into Tony, former student employee, current anesthesiologist. "You're still here," he said, "and you look exactly the same." I don't, of course, look the same, and neither does he. He used to look like a college student, and now he looks like a doctor.
He's right about one thing, though: I am still here.
That realization at first made me sad. Students pass through our tutoring centers and go on to heal the sick, comfort the elderly, and invent clean transportation. I merely stand at the doorway and wave my apron goodbye. At one time, I thought I'd do something fabulous.
On the other hand, these centers are sacred spaces. We help the go-getters learn to go and get. In the end,  I am on the team that goes to Mars by assisting with the launch. So keep studying; keep writing. We’ll continue to help.

End of Semester Rush

It’s the end of the semester, and you’re just about ready to start pulling your hair out. There are finals and papers and books to read and you can’t sleep at night because you’re so worried and you have no social life because you lock yourself away in your room trying to study and… phew! Well, there’s a lot to be done still, even with just a few days left. Just remember! – tutoring is still available for last minute checks! 

Easy reading

"Easy reading is damn hard writing."

-Nathaniel Hawthorne

Polytechnic NaNoWriMo Poems

Oh writer, how come

you think we proofread your work?

Learn punctuation.

-Amy

Your assignment is

due tomorrow? Want an ‘A’?

I am not a god.

-Amy

I don’t edit things,

my name isn’t spellcheck. So,

let’s work together.

-Cody

Two sentences. No,

commas don’t go in between.

That’s a comma splice.

-Cody

Oh my god, Amy,

you are killing me slowly;

Haikus are poison.

-Amy, from Cody’s perspective

“Corrections. Corrections, that’s all I need.”

Let me look over your paper and see…

Hint, questions, do you see it?

A missing article, a period, I see it!

You’re growing! I helped, see what can happen when we work as a team!

-Brittany

Pencil and paper meet,

The rest is simply history.

-Brittany

A computer can type it,

A tape recorder can replay it.

A memory can promise to keep it,

But only pencil and pen,

Writer and idea can consume it.

The imagination and creativity all play a

Role in the world we invent behind the

Eyes everyone sees, when they fall back

And your heart dreams.

-Brittany