Extra Credit

One of the things that really fascinates me is how the people who write get the ideas for their writing. Listening to Deloria's process of 'idea files' for stories and his general advice on how to generate ideas for writing were quite interesting. Deloria was asked how he generates ideas for his books, was it actively or did he just wait for an idea to pop into his head? He said that he tries to pay his full attention to what was going on around him, and not let stuff pass you by. He said to not let little ideas pass you by, to not forget it. By scouring into the weird, he sometimes find things that are worth writing about. I personally do not think of myself as a writer. Sometimes I like to write little posts to myself when I'm bored, for example but that's about it. However, I have been wanting to write something of my own for a while- something interesting, something witty, something I could be proud of. There's a website called Wattpad where people can post their own stories, and every summer I told myself that I'd write one. However, I could never think of what exactly I want to write about, and how I'd even start. I realised as I was listening to Deloria that part of my problem of my lack of inspiration is my very low attention span. I am often oblivious to my surroundings, and don't notice things unless explicitly pointed out to me. If only I could make a better effort to be more aware, and not hesitate to speak to people and let my curiosity be piqued, I may just end up finding something that I think would be worth sharing.
Another thing Deloria talkes about is discipline. He says his prime time for writing is in the early morning, and he tries to write for a solid amount of time without any distractions. He mentions how he avoids line editing in this process, which I think is something a lot of us (at least I) tend to do, and something that could benefit us if we avoided it. By going back to edit the little things while we write, our flow gets interrupted and we often forget what we wanted to write. This is particularly bad for me, as I tend to not plan what I write in advance, instead going with the flow of ideas that pop into my head when I write. He also mentions how he takes short breaks to do some physical activity after writing a bit. I think this could be potentially a very useful strategy as when I write I often feel mentally exhausted, and focusing on physical exertion helps clear up my mind so I can think from multiple perspectives when I go back to my writing. Writing is a very time consuming process, that requires full attention in order for it to be the best quality it can be. It is very impressive to me how people can write entire novels while working at the same time. Although Deloria mentions that his work when he isn't on leave isn't the best, he still makes time for it. Although I do not intend to major/minor in writing or pursue it as a career, I definitely like using it as an outlet for my emotions and ideas. He reminded me that it isn't necessary that I can only write when I have nothing at all to do, in summer for example. Instead, I can make time for writing during the semester, even for a few hours a week.
Deloria also talks about how in the writing process drafting is particularly important. He says that it's very difficult to nail something the first time it's written. It's encouraging to me to hear that such an experienced and accomplished writer also feels this way, and doesn't write perfectly the first time around. I think I may have mentioned on this blog before that in my high school career a lot of emphasis was never placed on re-drafting as most of the time for our english classes we had on the spot writing and submission. Something valuable that I've learnt after coming here is the importance of the editing and re-drafting process. Deloria says to keep thinking about the primary question- because usually there is only one primary question and this needs to be answered well and throughly. He says that if it isn't dress properly, it is a must to reframe the entire thing. I still cringe when I think of how much more effort this takes, but I've realise that I've done this multiple times with my essays this semester and although it was a lot of work, it payed off in the end. I had a more comprehensive, well flowing essay after thinking about my thesis and the primary purpose of my essay, and how well I have presented it.
I quite enjoyed listening to Deloria and will definately keep a watch out for more of the Writer-to-Writer series.