Your Name: ____Gabriela Raya_________ Todays Date: ___January 14, 2014_______

Week of One through ______________________

Chapters Read This Week: _____________Desperation Writing _____________
Pages Read This Week: __________130-133___________
Codes: (Q) Question; (C) Connect; (P) Predict; (CL) Clarify; (R) Reflect; (E) Evaluate
Passages From Text Page #s Response and Comments
I know I am not alone in my recurring
twinges of panic that I wont be able to
write something when I need to, I wont
be able to produce coherent speech or
thought. And that lingering doubt is a
great hindrance to writing. Its a constant
fog or static that clouds the mind. I never
got out of its clutches till I discovers that
it was possible to write something-not
something great or pleasing but at least
something usable, workable-when my
mind is out of commission.
130 This passage really confused me because
I wasnt sure what the author was quiet
talking about and what it was leading up
to.
My prediction for the next paragraph or at
least what he is trying to say in this
passage is that when you are writing that
you just write without stopping and that
the only real obstacle is doubt.
Dont think about what you are writing
or what you have written or else you will
overload the circuit again. Keep writing
as though you are drugged or drunk.
Keep doing this till you feel you have a
lot of material that might be useful; or, if
necessary, till you cant stand it
anymore-even if you doubt that theres
anything useful there.
131 This passage that I read was almost as I
predicted in the previous passage because
in this one it tells you to write and not to
think about it but to just write. If you
think about what you write and how you
are writing then you will jus crash and not
know what else to say.
For me this part is a little hard because I
always go back and read what I wrote to
see if it makes sense but Elbow thinks
otherwise.
Sometimes there wont be many on a
page. But it seems to you that there are
none on a page, you are making a serious
error-the same serious error that put you
in this comatose state with. You are
mistaking lousy, stupid, second-rate,
wrong, childish, foolish, worthless ideas
for no ideas at all. Your job is not to pick
out good ideas but to pick out ideas.
131 Why does Elbow use the negative words
to express the kind of error we make?
I feel like in this passage there is a change
in the tone that Elbow is expressing
because in the previous passages he has
just seemed calm and trying to tell you
that doubt weighs down your writing but
here he seems more demanding and strict
about making the same mistake.
I emphasize this passive, thoughtless
mode because I want to talk about
desperation writing in its pure state. In
131-
132
What is desperation writing?
This passage is about being passive and
active.


Passages From Text Page #s Response and Comments
practice, almost invariably at some point
in the procedure, your sanity begins to
return. It is often at this point. You
actually are moved to have thoughts or-
and the difference between active and
passive is crucial here-to exert thought;
to hold two cards together and build or
assert a relationship. It is a matter of
bringing energy to bear.

What is the difference between active and
passive?
I am a bit confused on what this passage
means and how Elbow wants to talk about
desperation writing in its pure state.
Follow these old associations. Make as
many metaphors as you can-be as nutty
as possible-and explore the metaphors
themselves-open them out. You may
have all your energy tied up in some area
of your experience that you are leaving
out. Dont refrain from writing about
whatever else is on your mind: how you
feel at the moment, what you are losing
your mind over, randomness that
intrudes itself on your consciousness, the
pattern on the wallpaper, what those
people you see out the window have on
their minds-though keep coming back to
the whatever it is you are supposed to be
writing about.
132-
133
I really like this passage because again the
tone has changed from calm educating to
demanding and strict to now funny and
more energetic.
This passage did catch my attention
because of the common words that I read.
And I can relate to this more to my daily
routine. In writing also helps because
Elbow gives a little about how to start if
you dont have any ideas.
Be random!