Step 1: Pre-Writing

Pre-Writing is basically all about getting your thoughts onto the page. This step may start off with the writer not being completely sure about what he or she is going to write about. The writer can just free-write about what is on his mind or what he thinks he may want to write about. This week, a guest speaker came into my English class. She is an author and poet from Philadelphia. Her advice to us was to free-write for twenty-two minutes each day, not paying any attention to spelling or punctuation, just letting the ideas escape from our minds. This reminded me of the first step in the writing process because in pre-writing, the writer just brainstorms about a few different topics to see which topic evokes a lot of thoughts or emotions. That topic can then be further explored and developed into something more. That best topic can then be researched, outlined, and a thesis statement can be started.