Seamus Heaney's writing room.
After reading about the writing process in the Dornan et. al selection, I was initially struck with how familiar it all sounded. In high school and college, my creative writing teachers employed what is more or less the "process" (prewriting, writing, post-writing etc.). It made a lot of sense then as it does now reading the passage. The main element missing in my experience, and one could surely argue that it is the most important, is the structured peer-review time. My high school teacher, Mr. Beckman would sooner have shaved his famously thick and bushy sideburns than let us actually converse about our writing. When the door closed, he was in charge, the sole possessor of good taste and style. However, he provided us with opportunities to prewrite in a number of ways, I actually remember doing the bubble exercise where we connected different concepts together for future writing exercises. We also learned a good deal of editing techniques. On the other hand, I realize how much I missed by not sharing my work with my peers and look forward to future classroom experiences where I can experience the strikes and gutters of writing with my students.
I really liked this article in the Guardian that featured writing rooms of famous writers. Be sure to check out Jonathan Safran Foer.
