Freshman English

Name: _______________________________________________________ Hour: ______ Teacher: ______________________

1

“How to Mark a Book” by Mortimer Adler (Summary)

In his essay entitled, “How to Mark a Book,” (1942) Mortimer Adler encourages readers to “write between the lines” or to mark a book.

The author believes that a person really owns a book and its information if he or she writes in it. In fact, he says that writing in a book makes one think. Marking up a book helps one to remember thoughts.

Writing comments preserves one’s initial reactions. The author reminds readers that reading must be active, which means that reading should take a form of a conversation between the reader, who is a learner, and the author, who is a teacher.

In the essay, Adler gives a few useful hints for how to mark up a book. For example, one can underline main points, draw vertical lines at the margin, use stars or asterisks, number the points, circle key words, or write in the margin to record questions or major statements.

Moreover, one can write on the front and end papers, insert a scratch pad with notes in the book, or make outlines on the front and back covers.

In the end, Adler provides his readers with two more useful pieces of advice: approach each reading differently according to its worth, and keep a marked book to oneself because a marked copy is an intellectual diary and lending it is almost like giving one’s mind away.

Adler says while this is important, he emphasizes that one should not mark up a book that is not his or hers.

Answer the following questions:

1. Explain what it is to skim a book, in your own words. What is the difference between marking a book and skimming it?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. When you annotate a book, what are you doing? What does Mortimer say about annotating a book? Use a verbatim quote from the summary.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. Brainstorm some ways to mark up a book that does not belong to you. Make a list.

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2

Examining the Writing of Others

SOAPSTone: SOAPSTone is an acronym for a series of questions that you must ask and answer to understand a piece of writing.

Who or what is the Speaker? What is the Occasion that prompted the writing? Who is the Audience? What is the Purpose behind the writing? What is the Subject of the writing (stated in only a few words)? What is the Tone of the author?

Close Reading

Close reading is when you read a text for a purpose. It is a process where you read the text enough times so you can understand it, explain it to someone else, and ask and answer questions using evidence from the text. It helps a reader gain a deep understanding of the text.

A close reading is NEITHER PLOT SUMMARY NOR PARAPHRASE. Therefore, avoid simply repeating, rephrasing, summarizing, or generalizing about the passage. Instead look at how the language used to describe the event, character, scene, etc. creates and manipulates your understanding.

One of the ways to begin a close reading is to ask questions of the passage from the general to the specific. For example, why is this passage included in the novel/essay? How do the diction, sentence structure, tone, imagery, and metaphors shape your reading of this passage and contribute to your interpretation of the novel/essay as a whole?

Close reading requires a student to complete five steps.

1. Paraphrase the text sentence by sentence2. Summarize the text paragraph by paragraph.3. Analyze the text through thinking about the purpose, questions, information, inferences,

concepts, assumptions, implications and point of view. 4. Evaluate the information for clarity, precision, accuracy, logic, breadth, relevance,

significance and fair-mindedness. 5. Consider the author’s perspective.

Define the following terms:

1. Paraphrase:

2. Summarize:

3. Analyze:

4. Evaluate:

5. Perspective:

3

Editorials

An editorial is an opinion piece written by the senior editorial staff or publisher of a newspaper or magazine. Editorials are usually unsigned and may be supposed to reflect the opinion of the publication, and are often classified under the heading "opinion."

Editorials are typically published on a special page dedicated to them, called the editorial page, which often also features letters to the editor from members of the public; the page opposite this page is called the op-ed (opinion editorial) page and frequently contains opinion pieces by writers not directly affiliated with the publication.

A good editorial is persuasive writing at its best: convincing and written with confidence and power. An editorial is convincing when the writer's opinions are supported with verifiable facts and thoughtful arguments.

Unlike newspaper articles, editorials express a personal viewpoint and are free to be highly subjective and emotionally packed. The fact that editorials are dressed in this subjective framework frees the writer from any obligation to present both sides of the issue.

Effective Editorials…

Take a stand on an issue (stick to the issue) Are generally brief and to the point. Support opinions with logically ordered data (logical and emotional appeals) Provide clearly and forcefully stated conclusions (often solutions to the problem are

presented) Use a judicious mixture of measured language and emotionally charged words (loaded

words) Display standard grammar, correct usage, capitalization and spelling Avoid clichés and sarcasm

Persuasive writing can also include fallacies.

Editorial Class Activity: As a class, we will read and analyze “In Praise of the F Word”

Step one: highlight, underline and label examples of ethos, pathos, logos, claims, evidence, connotation, and fallacy

Step two: write down questions or reactions in the margins of the editorial (Close Read)

Step three: What’s your opinion? Is the editorial persuasive? Did it convince you? Was it effectively written? Give reasons for your answers.

Step four: Underline and look up words unfamiliar to you. Write definitions in the margin.

4

“In Praise of the F Word” BY MARY SHERRY

May 6, 1991, edition of Newsweek

Tens of thousands of 18-year-olds will graduate this year and be handed

meaningless diplomas. These diplomas won't look any different from those awarded

their luckier classmates. Their validity will be questioned only when their

employers discover that these graduates are semiliterate.

Eventually a fortunate few will find their way into educational-repair shops--adult-

literacy programs, such as the one where I teach basic grammar and writing. There,

high-school graduates and high-school dropouts pursuing graduate-equivalency

certificates will learn the skills they should have learned in school. They will also

discover they have been cheated by our educational system.

As I teach, I learn a lot about our schools. Early in each session I ask my students to

write about an unpleasant experience they had in school. No writers' block here! `I

wish someone would have had made me stop doing drugs and made me study.' `I

liked to party and no one seemed to care.' `I was a good kid and didn't cause any

trouble, so they just passed me along even though I didn't read well and couldn't

write.' And so on.

I am your basic do-gooder, and prior to teaching this class I blamed the poor

academic skills our kids have today on drugs, divorce and other impediments to

concentration necessary for doing well in school. But, as I rediscover each time I

walk into the classroom, before a teacher can expect students to concentrate, he has

to get their attention, no matter what distractions may be at hand. There are many

ways to do this, and they have much to do with teaching style. However, if style

alone won't do it, there is another way to show who holds the winning hand in the

classroom. That is to reveal the trump card of failure.

I will never forget a teacher who played that card to get the attention of one of my

children. Our youngest, a world-class charmer, did little to develop his intellectual

talents but always got by. Until Mrs. Stifter.

Our son was a high-school senior when he had her for English. `He sits in the back of

the room talking to his friends,' she told me. `Why don't you move him to the front 5

row?' I urged, believing the embarrassment would get him to settle down. Mrs.

Stifter looked at me steely-eyed over her glasses. `I don't move seniors,' she said. `I

flunk them.' I was flustered. Our son's academic life flashed before my eyes. No

teacher had ever threatened him with that before. I regained my composure and

managed to say that I thought she was right. By the time I got home I was feeling

pretty good about this. It was a radical approach for these times, but, well, why not?

`She's going to flunk you,' I told my son. I did not discuss it any further. Suddenly

English became a priority in his life. He finished out the semester with an A.

I know one example doesn't make a case, but at night I see a parade of students who

are angry and resentful for having been passed along until they could no longer even

pretend to keep up. Of average intelligence or better, they eventually quit school,

concluding they were too dumb to finish. `I should have been held back,' is a

comment I hear frequently. Even sadder are those students who are high-school

graduates who say to me after a few weeks of class, `I don't know how I ever got a

high-school diploma.'

Passing students who have not mastered the work cheats them and the employers

who expect graduates to have basic skills. We excuse this dishonest behavior by

saying kids can't learn if they come from terrible environments. No one seems to

stop to think that--no matter what environments they come from--most kids don't

put school first on their list unless they perceive something is at stake. They'd rather

be sailing.

Many students I see at night could give expert testimony on unemployment,

chemical dependency, and abusive relationships. In spite of these difficulties, they

have decided to make education a priority. They are motivated by the desire for a

better job or the need to hang on to the one they've got. They have a healthy fear of

failure.

People of all ages can rise above their problems, but they need to have a reason to

do so. Young people generally don't have the maturity to value education in the

same way my adult students value it. But fear of failure, whether economic or

academic, can motivate both.

6

Flunking as a regular policy has just as much merit today as it did two generations

ago. We must review the threat of flunking and see it as it really is--a positive

teaching tool. It is an expression of confidence by both teachers and parents that the

students have the ability to learn the material presented to them. However, making

it work again would take a dedicated, caring conspiracy between teachers and

parents. It would mean facing the tough reality that passing kids who haven't

learned the material--while it might save them grief for the short term--dooms them

to long-term illiteracy. It would mean that teachers would have to follow through on

their threats, and parents would have to stand behind them, knowing their

children's best interests are indeed at stake. This means no more doing Scott's

assignments for him because he might fail. No more passing Jodi because she's such

a nice kid.

This is a policy that worked in the past and can work today. A wise teacher, with the

support of his parents, gave our son the opportunity to succeed--or fail. It's time we

return this choice to all students.

Collaborative Editorial Activity:

HOMEWORK Individually, you will find and print an editorial from AZCentral.com. Go to www.azcentral.com and click on “Opinion.” That page will supply you with multiple

outlets to find an editorial. Choose an article with a topic that interests you. If you do not see one in the list provided on that page, click on the individual editors, and they will each provide more choices.

Once you have found and read the article of your choice, print it, analyze it using the four steps, and bring it to class.

Step one: highlight, underline and label examples of ethos, pathos, logos, claims, evidence, connotation, and fallacyStep two: write down questions or reactions in the margins of the editorial (Close Read)Step three: What’s your opinion? Is the editorial persuasive? Did it convince you? Was it effectively written? Give reasons for your answers.Step four: Underline and look up words unfamiliar to you. Write definitions in the margin.

CLASSWORK In class, get into learning groups and further analyze an editorial. Be prepared to discuss the editorial and your findings with the class. Individually, write a paragraph discussing if the editorial is effective or ineffective and state

the reason you believe this. Submit the analyzed article and paragraph to the teacher.

7

Close read Vince Lombardi’s Speech entitled, “What is Takes to Be Number One” Pay close attention to the rhetoric and diction he uses, especially given the tumultuous past. Complete the SOAPSTone. In addition, in the margins of this paper, show examples of ethos, pathos and logos.

Winning is not a sometime thing; it's an all the time thing. You don't win once in a while; you

don't do things right once in a while; you do them right all of the time. Winning is a habit.

Unfortunately, so is losing.

There is no room for second place. There is only one place in my game, and that's first place.

I have finished second twice in my time at Green Bay, and I don't ever want to finish second

again. There is a second place bowl game, but it is a game for losers played by losers. It is and

always has been an American zeal to be first in anything we do, and to win, and to win, and

to win.

Every time a football player goes to ply his trade he's got to play from the ground up - from

the soles of his feet right up to his head. Every inch of him has to play. Some guys play with

their heads. That's O.K. You've got to be smart to be number one in any business. But more

importantly, you've got to play with your heart, with every fiber of your body. If you're lucky

enough to find a guy with a lot of head and a lot of heart, he's never going to come off the

field second.

Running a football team is no different than running any other kind of organization - an

army, a political party or a business. The principles are the same. The object is to win - to

beat the other guy. Maybe that sounds hard or cruel. I don't think it is.

It is a reality of life that men are competitive and the most competitive games draw the most

competitive men. That's why they are there - to compete. The object is to win fairly, squarely,

by the rules - but to win.

And in truth, I've never known a man worth his salt who in the long run, deep down in his

heart, didn't appreciate the grind, the discipline. There is something in good men that really

yearns for discipline and the harsh reality of head to head combat.

I don't say these things because I believe in the ‘brute' nature of men or that men must be

brutalized to be combative. I believe in God, and I believe in human decency. But I firmly

believe that any man's finest hour -- his greatest fulfillment to all he holds dear -- is that

moment when he has worked his heart out in a good cause and lies exhausted on the field of

battle - victorious."

Note: Coach Vincent T. Lombardi was a football coach of the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s. This speech was given in the Green Bay locker room at halftime of the “Ice Bowl.”

8

Who Moved My Cheese? by Spencer Johnson

You will be assigned a character to take note of while viewing Who Moved My Cheese? Use the graphic organizer provided to take good notes. Answer the questions below in your notes. When you are finished, write a narrative for your character.

1. Which character best illustrates who you are in life? 2. The cheese and the maze are metaphors. Define metaphor and explain what each

represents.3. Thinking of your own life, identify what you consider to be your cheese and your maze.4. Thinking of your own life, identify some habits you think keep you from being as successful

as you could be.

9

Assigned Character:

Notes: Responses:

Narrative:

Guided Practice for Reading7 Habits of Highly Effective Teens

Answer the assigned questions on a separate piece of paper, and in complete sentences.

Part I: The Set-Up: 1. Think about some habits that you have developed. Are the habits that you developed

mostly good, bad, or those that do not really matter?2. What do you think George Bernard Shaw meant when he said, “Better keep yourself clean

and bright; you are the window through which you see the whole world”?3. Think of a person you admire. This may be another student, a parent, a grandparent or any

adult or a historical figure. Think about what makes this person admirable. Now think about the principles that this person has and how the principles relate to the reason you admire him/her. Write a short description of this person and explain how you see this or these principles illustrated within this person.

4. Listen carefully to the lyrics of the music you listen to most frequently. Evaluate if they are in harmony with the principles in which you believe. List the title of a song and the words that represent the principles you believe. If the words/song does not represent your principles, explain why you still listen to that music.

5. Covey identified different life-centers: friend-centered, stuff-centered, boyfriend/girlfriend centered, school-centered, sport/hobby-centered, hero-centered, enemy-centered, work-centered, self-centered, and parent-centered. You may have other centers in your life. Create a pie chart to illustrate your life-centers.

Ex: Key

Summary in Four R Notes

Part II: The Private Victory The Personal Bank Account:

1. Thinking back to the definition you wrote for metaphors, what is the metaphor of a personal bank account? How could you incorporate making these deposits more regularly?

2. Select an epigraph from Part II that you found particularly interesting. Write the epigraph and explain what it means to you, and why it is significant.

3. Be prepared to share (with the class) one talent that you have that others may not know about.  What is it you are good at?  What can you do that others may not be able to do? Describe how you use your talent and which areas of your life it positively impacts?

4. Rita Mae Brown states, “One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory.” Explain what you think she means by this, and why you agree or disagree with her statement.

Summary in Four R Notes

Habit 1: Be Proactive:1. Define the words proactive and reactive as they apply to situations and people.

10

2. Analyze the difference between a reactive person and proactive person. Provide examples for both. Which type of person do you believe you are, and why?

3. Evaluate how both reactive and proactive people would react to the following scenario: A person posts a photo of his or her friends on Instagram or Twitter. People begin to post unkind and defamatory comments about the people in the photo.

4. Over what do you have control? Why is it important to focus on the things that you can control, rather than those things that are out of your control?

5. Why do you think people often find themselves reacting to situations or playing the victim? How could being proactive change their lives?

Summary in Four R Notes

Habit 2: Begin with the End in Mind:1. When one builds a house, he or she starts with blueprints. When one cooks something new,

he or she first reads a recipe. When one writes a paper, he or she receive a better grade when an outline is created first. All of these ensure the best results or ending possible. Thinking about yourself, describe what your future looks like and what plans you have made to ensure you reach your goals.

2. If you don’t plan for your future, someone else will. How are your friends/family/teachers/etc. influencing your future?

3. Ask a parent or other adult what critical decisions he or she made during his or her teen years. How did their critical decisions affect his or her future? How has it “paid off” for him or her?

4. Follow your teacher’s instructions to complete “The Great Discovery.”

The Great DiscoveryStart here…

1. Think of a person who made a positive different in your life. What qualities does that person have that you would like to develop?

________________________________________________________________________

2. Imagine yourself in 20 years. You are surrounded by the most important people in your life. Who are they and what are they doing?

________________________________________________________________________

3. If a steel beam (six inches wide) were placed across two skyscrapers, for what would you be willing to cross? A thousand dollars? A million? Your pet? Your brother? Fame? Think carefully.

________________________________________________________________________

4. If you could spend one day in a great library studying anything you wanted, what would you study?

________________________________________________________________________

5. Describe a time when you were deeply inspired.

________________________________________________________________________11

6. List ten things you would love to do. It could be singing, dancing, looking at magazines, drawing, reading, daydreaming – anything you absolutely love to do.

________________________________________________________________________7. Five years from now, your local paper does a story about you and they want to interview three

people – a parent, a brother or sister, and a friend. What would you want them to say about you?

________________________________________________________________________

8. Think of something that represents you – a rose, a song, an animal. Why does it represent you?

________________________________________________________________________

9. If you could spend an hour with any person who ever lived, who would it be? Why that person? What would you ask?

________________________________________________________________________

10. Everyone has one or more talents. What are your talents? Use the ones listed below or write your own.

Sharing

Music

Trivia

Words or numbers

Creative thinking

Athletics

Making things happen

Sensing needs

Mechanical

Artistic

Working with people

Memorizing things

Decision making

Building things

Predicting what will happen

Accepting others

Speaking

Writing

Dancing

Listening

Singing

Humorous

12

How Can I Apply This Concept to my life?

Using the space provided, create a first draft of a personal mission statement by referring to The Great Discovery activity you completed.

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________________

________________________________________________________________________

Summary in Four R Notes

13

Habit 3: Put First Things First:

1. Explain the difference between something urgent and something important.2. Read “The Parable of the Glass Jar”

a. One day at school a teacher began his class by placing a large glass jar on the lab bench in the front of the classroom and announced that "This is the jar of life, and today we will be filling it." After the obligatory moaning had ceased, the teacher reached behind the lab bench and brought out a tray of softball-sized rocks. He carefully placed one rock in the jar, then another, then a third, and then a fourth. When he tried to add a fifth rock, there was not enough room, so he removed it. He asked the class if the jar was full. Without hesitation, there was a resounding "YES." The teacher reached behind the lab bench again, and brought out a tray of golf ball sized stones. He added a few to the jar. Gently shook the jar and was able to fit a few more. Once again, he had reached the top of the jar and asked if the jar was full now. Once again, the class responded in the affirmative. Again, the teacher reached behind the lab bench, and this time brought out a tray with pea-sized stones. He added a handful, shook the jar gently, added another handful, shook the jar, added another and shook, until no more pea sized stones could fit. He asked the class if the jar was full now. The response was slow and not a very convincing, "I guess so." The teacher reached behind the lab bench again, and brought out a plastic pail and a plastic shovel. He began adding sand to the jar, stopping every now and then to shake the jar, forcing the sand into all the tiny crevasses. Finally, when no more sand would fit, he asked that fateful question again. There was no answer, but a girl in the front row sprung up and went behind the lab bench. She proclaimed that there was nothing left back there, and so the class agreed the jar was now full. The teacher walked over to the glassware cabinet, took out a 500ml beaker and filled it with water. He went back to the glass jar and poured the water into the jar, until it could hold no more. With that he sat down and asked the class what they had learned from the jar of life. One student in the back shouted out, "You can always get more into it than you thought." The teacher laughed and said, "That was a good answer, and there is a lot to be said for that, but that's only half of the story." As time was winding down in the class, and it looked like the answer the teacher was looking for would not come without some prompting, he posed another question, "What can be said about the order in which we filled our jar of life?" There was silence for a few seconds before a voice squeaked out "We put the big rocks in first." The teacher asked, "Why?" The reply came from the other side of the room this time, "Because if we put sand in first, there wouldn't be any room for the big rocks." We all have big rocks in life. We MAKE time for those things. My big rocks have always been family and friends and to a lesser extent work and working out. We all have small rocks in life. We FIND time for those things like hobbies, projects, volunteering, traveling, etc. The pebbles, sand, and water is the stuff that we just do and the life that goes on around us.

b. Now, identify your goals and big rocks for the upcoming week. Construct a schedule for the week ahead by deciding what is important. This needs to be limited to ten ideas. Block out time for these big rocks by listing them in your schedule. Next, schedule daily tasks. After following the schedule for the week, explain how this allowed you to be more successful.

Summary in Four R Notes

14

Part III: The Public Victory The Relationship Bank Account:

1. How do you score your relationships?

How are your relationships with… Lousy ExcellentYour friends? 1 2 3 4 5Your siblings? 1 2 3 4 5Your parents or guardians? 1 2 3 4 5Your boyfriend or girlfriend? 1 2 3 4 5Your teachers? 1 2 3 4 5

2. What is a Relationship Bank Account (RBA)? Covey is quoted as saying that while interacting with RBAs, “deposits tend to evaporate and withdrawals tend to turn to stone.” What does it mean to have a person’s words in quotes? What can you do to maintain a positive RBA?

3. Setting clear expectations can sometimes be challenging. Practice by laying out your expectations for yourself the upcoming weekend.

4. An RBA is much like a Personal Bank Account (PBA). Create a Venn diagram to compare and contrast the two. Include a minimum of ten items in your diagram.

Summary in Four R Notes

Habit 4: Think Win-Win:1. In order to be able to achieve win-win status, one must first win the private victory by combating

jealousy, insecurities or other negative feelings. Consequently, people must make deposits in their PBA. When, and under what circumstance, did you make the last deposit into your PBA? When, and under what circumstance, did you last say you were sorry?

2. Covey calls competing and comparing the Tumor Twins. Considering what each means, explain why Tim Galwey says that “when competition is used as a means of creating of self-image relative to others, the worst in a person comes out.” Then, explain why Paul Dunn says that the only “good comparison is comparing yourself against your own potential.”

3. Write a situation that could be placed in the win-win or no deal category.

Summary in Four R Notes

Habit 5: Seek First to Understand, Then to Be Understood:1.2. What is the key to communication?3. What is the difference between acceptance and understanding? 4. Explain why body language and tone can have a greater impact on listening than words. Give an

example of one of the above affecting a conversation.5. In order to better communicate with parents or guardians, people must make deposits into the

RBA they have with them. For two days, ask your parents or guardians how work was today or what you could do to help around the house. Sit down and talk to them. Then, without being asked, take out the garbage, do a load of laundry, babysit for a sibling, etc. Write down how the interaction between you and your parents or guardians changed during those two days.

Summary in Four R Notes

Habit 6: Synergize: 1. Describe what synergy is and what it is not.2. Synergy comes with a simple, five-step process. What is the process?

15

3. Basketball Olympian Deborah Miller Palmore said, “Even when you’ve played the game of your life, it’s the feeling of teamwork that you’ll remember. You’ll forget the plays, the shots, and the scores, but you’ll never forget your teammates.” Do you agree or disagree with what she said? Explain your reason. Provide specific examples to back up your assertions.

4. If your friends were to honestly describe the way you deal with diversity, would they describe you as a shunner, a tolerator, or a celebrator? Why?

Summary in Four R Notes

Part IV: Renewal: Habit 7: Sharpen the Saw:

1. Describe and explain the four key dimensions of people’s bodies. 2. The United States of Agriculture’s Pyramid (Balanced) information is now called “ChooseMyPlate.”

Go to www.choosemyplate.gov and critique your last night’s dinner. Then track the food on https://www.supertracker.usda.gov/foodtracker.aspx and review the analysis. If the analysis of your eating shows you eat a balanced diet, what can you do to maintain these eating habits? If the analysis of your eating shows your diet is not balanced, what can you do to improve your eating habits?

3. Explain how people can use the Refusal Skill to stay away from dangerous habits. Please do not just state the five steps.

4. You will not move forward if you just sit and wait for something to happen for you. What habit(s) do you plan to change immediately? What steps will you take to make sure this occurs?

Summary in Four R Notes

16

Close read the following article:

“Yucky First Drafts” by Anne Lamott

(adapted for MPHS Freshman English)

Lamott argues for the need to let go and write those “yucky first drafts” that lead to clarity and sometimes brilliance in our second and third drafts.

Now, practically even better news than that of short assignments is the idea of yucky first drafts. All

good writers write them. This is how they end up with good second drafts and terrific third drafts.

People tend to look at successful writers who are getting their books published and maybe even doing

well financially and think that they sit down at their desks every morning feeling like a million dollars,

feeling great about who they are and how much talent they have and what a great story they have to

tell; that they take in a few deep breaths, push back their sleeves, roll their necks a few times to get all

the cricks out, and dive in, typing fully formed passages as fast as a court reporter. But this is just the

fantasy of the uninitiated. I know some very great writers, writers you love who write beautifully and

have made a great deal of money, and not one of them sits down routinely feeling wildly enthusiastic

and confident. Not one of them writes elegant first drafts. All right, one of them does, but we do not like

her very much…

Very few writers really know what they are doing until they've done it. Nor do they go about their

business feeling dewy and thrilled. They do not type a few stiff warm-up sentences and then find

themselves bounding along like huskies across the snow. One writer I know tells me that he sits down

every morning and says to himself nicely, "It's not like you don't have a choice, because you do -- you

can either type, or fail." We all often feel like we are pulling teeth, even those writers whose prose ends

up being the most natural and fluid. The right words and sentences just do not come pouring out like

ticker tape most of the time…

For me and most of the other writers I know, writing is not rapturous. In fact, the only way I can get

anything written at all is to write really, really yucky first drafts. The first draft is the child's draft,

where you let it all pour out and then let it romp all over the place, knowing that no one is going to see it

and that you can shape it later. You just let this childlike part of you channel whatever voices and

visions come through and onto the page. If one of the characters wants to say, "Well, so what, Mr. Poopy

Pants?," you let her. No one is going to see it. If the kid wants to get into really sentimental, weepy,

emotional territory, you let him. Just get it all down on paper because there may be something great in

those six crazy pages that you would never have gotten to by more rational, grown-up means. There

may be something in the very last line of the very last paragraph on page six that you just love, that is so

beautiful or wild that you now know what you're supposed to be writing about, more or less, or in what

direction you might go -- but there was no way to get to this without first getting through the first five

and a half pages.

17

I used to write food reviews for California magazine before it folded. (My writing food reviews had

nothing to do with the magazine folding, although every single review did cause a couple of canceled

subscriptions.) These reviews always took two days to write. First I'd go to a restaurant several times

with a few opinionated, articulate friends in tow. I'd sit there writing down everything anyone said that

was at all interesting or funny. Then on the following Monday I'd sit down at my desk with my notes and

try to write the review. Even after I'd been doing this for years, panic would set in. I'd try to write a lead,

but instead I'd write a couple of dreadful sentences, XX them out, try again, XX everything out, and then

feel despair and worry settle on my chest like an x-ray apron. It's over, I'd think calmly. I'm not going to

be able to get the magic to work this time. I'm ruined. I'm through. I'm toast. Maybe, I'd think, I can get

my old job back as a clerk-typist. But probably not. I'd get up and study my teeth in the mirror for a

while. Then I'd stop, remember to breathe, make a few phone calls, hit the kitchen and chow down.

Eventually I'd go back and sit down at my desk, and sigh for the next ten minutes. Finally I would pick

up my one-inch picture frame, stare into it as if for the answer, and every time the answer would come:

all I had to do was to write a really yucky first draft of, say, the opening paragraph. And no one was

going to see it.

So I'd start writing without reining myself in. It was almost just typing, just making my fingers move.

And the writing would be terrible. I'd write a lead paragraph that was a whole page, even though the

entire review could only be three pages long, and then I'd start writing up descriptions of the food, one

dish at a time, bird by bird, and the critics would be sitting on my shoulders, commenting like cartoon

characters. They'd be pretending to snore, or rolling their eyes at my overwrought descriptions, no

matter how hard I tried to tone those descriptions down, no matter how conscious I was of what a

friend said to me gently in my early days of restaurant reviewing. "Annie," she said, "it is just a piece of

chicken. It is just a bit of cake."

But because by then I had been writing for so long, I would eventually let myself trust the process -- sort

of, more or less. I'd write a first draft that was maybe twice as long as it should be, with a self-indulgent

and boring beginning, stupefying descriptions of the meal, lots of quotes from my black-humored

friends that made them sound more like the Manson girls than food lovers, and no ending to speak of.

The whole thing would be so long and incoherent and hideous that for the rest of the day I'd obsess

about getting creamed by a car before I could write a decent second draft. I'd worry that people would

read what I'd written and believe [it really was not an accident], that I had panicked because my talent

was waning and my mind was shot.

The next day, I'd sit down, go through it all with a colored pen, take out everything I possibly could, find

a new lead somewhere on the second page, figure out a kicky place to end it, and then write a second

draft. It always turned out fine, sometimes even funny and weird and helpful. I'd go over it one more

time and mail it in.

18

Then, a month later, when it was time for another review, the whole process would start again,

complete with the fears that people would find my first draft before I could rewrite it.

Almost all good writing begins with terrible first efforts. You need to start somewhere. Start by getting

something -- anything -- down on paper. A friend of mine says that the first draft is the down draft -- you

just get it down. The second draft is the up draft -- you fix it up. You try to say what you have to say

more accurately. And the third draft is the dental draft, where you check every tooth, to see if it's loose

or cramped or decayed, or even healthy.

19