Walsh's+Paper+1+Reflections

=**Lo Paper Numero Uno**=

When starting my writing process, I like to get a cup of coffee, turn on some music, and separate myself from all human contact. I'm not the kind of person that sits down and writes for five hours straight, however. I like to give myself a good hour-ish long session with my glowing word document.

The session is usually spent writing an outline I'll never truly follow and some really ugly uses of the comma splice.

After that inital triathalon of grammar, vocabulary, and sentence structure, I'll have what is known as my shitty first draft. I try to do this for every paper that I write. I attempt to take some time out of everything else that I have going on and really focus on my paper.

For this first assignment, I found myself getting back into my usual writing process and came out feeling accomplished. After my shitty first draft, I left my paper unattended for a day or two. This really helped me to go back to my writing as if it wasn't my own. I was able to re-evaluate everything I had and where I wanted to go next with it. I didn't have a hard time finding sources, but I did find myself doing that thing we all do when we try to find something online: getting really off track. Facebook and Twitter may or may not hold the blame for this. But, once I got myself back on track and got myself together, I was able to finish the paper and come out with a decent piece of writing. The morning it was due I did my last minute revisions and had it submitted.

=Advice?=

If you're like me and the other 99% (not that kind) of college students, then you are a procrastinator. You also get distracted by a cell phone, any form of social media, and the ugly paint color of the room you are attempting to write in. Temple Run and Words With Friends never became so damn interesting up until this point. You start to think that maybe your grandmother misses you and she needs a phone call. Anything and everything gets in the way and distracts you from writing.

The truth of the matter is that **YOU** choose to get distracted by these things... My advice is to not do so; or at least try your hardest to eliminate these seemingly wonderful escapes from the reality of having to write a paper.

"How can I do this?" you ask?

Leave the phone in the bag (or man purse). Don't connect to the internet until you need to search for sources and buckle down for a set amount of time. If something works for you (like listening to music), do it every time you write. Our brain is a muscle, so you can theoretically train it to work a certain way.

I may or may not have made that last part up.

Either way, you can get what you have to get done a lot quicker and easier with minimal distractions floating around you. Set times for writing and don't tell yourself its the worst thing possible because it isn't. You could be doing CORE homework instead.