Texts and Contexts


I have not taking many writing courses; in fact I have only taken a handful of writing classes at the University level. In these few classes I have written in the traditional genres, research papers, proposals, and other business type writings. To help ignite our creativity none of my professors for these classes have ever used any of the techniques talked about in the Sumerfield reading, most likely because of the style of writing. I am not sure that any of these techniques would really help me out. I would enjoy the writing in complete darkness technique, not sure how useful it would be for me but it would be interesting. To me the most important aspect of trying to create an environment conducive to promoting creativity is the class structure. As they mentioned when students feel comfortable to share ideas and express themselves to their classmates this is when students are at their creative peaks. I totally agree with this idea. In classes where I get to know my classmates I feel more comfortable and feel that I can offer my opinions and ideas without hesitation. I also feel that I get more out of classes such as this and tend to do better. Coincidence?

One piece of advice that I did get from reading Texts and Contents is to learn how to read and write with the ear. I feel that this is a good piece of advice. When I hear a story the story takes form in my mind differently than when I read it to myself. I pick up on the small details that often times make a story good easier when I hear it than when I read it. It is almost as if the story comes alive when I hear it as opposed to when I read it. Like when I am reading my mind is to0 cluttered with the words to take the time and “paint” the picture for me. So when I hear something my mind is able to form a picture of what I am hearing in my head much better, in turn making the whole experience better. This can be interpreted as an enabling constraint which is something that was talked about in the reading. I do agree with the idea that some constraints are disabling and some are enabling; by identifying all the constraints and then labeling them as either enabling or disabling we can be more productive. Once we are aware of what some of the enabling constraints are we can then use those to our advantage by incorporating those into the activities we do in order to become better writers.