Extra credit

I enjoyed listening to this segment; Phil Deloria sounds like a fascinating guy with a real talent and passion for writing.

One thing that I found really interesting and helpful in listening to him talk was his writing process. Phil says that the best time for him to write is in the morning. He fills up on breakfast and tries to be sitting down to write by 8 am. While this seems early, it makes sense that this writing would be his best because he hasn't had the day to clutter his mind with other random thoughts yet. I wonder how he knows and when he came to discover that this was the perfect time to write the best writing. It's something that I think I should try, writing as soon as I wake up, to see if it actually makes a distinct difference. When he writes like this, Phil made sure to mention that he does not edit and revise as he writes. He ignores mistakes or awkward sentences and just tries to spill out his brain. I'm sure this is a very useful technique; it is something I plan to try. Also, he talks about how important it is to not get distracted. He mentions that the only time we can actually see things is when something has 100% of our undivided attention. Of course, there's no way I can disagree with this. I wish that I wrote more with less distractions, but it's hard to resist checking social media when I get stuck! Perhaps I will give un-distracted writing another, more motivated try.

Another thing that was fascinating was actually just a simple few sentences. Phil Deloria emphasizes the importance of the word "the" in the phrase "this is the life." I have never thought about this before, but when you don't include that small word, the phrase becomes a description of normalcy. It reminds me of how people stress the word "the" when they say "THE University of Michigan" or "THE Ohio State University" because THE becomes such a powerful adjective that explains just how important and unique something is. Without it, the thing is so normal and commonplace. I thought this was a very interesting observation.

The final thing that really stuck out to me was when Phil talked about things to consider when you're writing. He advised the audience to understand what your book (or paper, essay, poem, etc.) is, who your audience is, and how that piece will present you as an author. I thought those were three important ideas for an author to remember while writing. I related it to having to write for class versus writing for the Arts and Literary Journal for LHSP. Whatever I write, whether it's to turn in or to submit for inclusion in the journal, it has to fit what is asked of me. For class, the piece has to fit the prompt, but for the literary journal, it has to fit in the context of the journal. The audience for class and the journal is quite different as well. For class, a professor is judging my work, while the Arts and Literary Club students are judging my work for submission, so I must write to relate to them. I also think about how I will be positioned when I submit my work to canvas or the club. On one hand, I hope my academic writing allows my professor to see my skills and think of me higher as a writer. On the other hand, I want to be positioned as a reflective and powerful writer for the literary journal, powerful enough to compel the students to vote to include my piece.

I'm glad I got the chance to listen to Phil Deloria speak about his experiences with writing and I'll be looking out for other Writer-to-Writer events.