The "Get It Down on Paper" Essay Method

When I sat down to write my essay first draft on Sunday, I used the directions Professor Scott gave to us: write as much as you can, as fast as you can. Overall, I didn't think writing like this worked very well for me, but there were a few advantages. For one thing, I wrote much longer of an essay than I expected, and I have always had a problem with longer papers. Another was that I found that my purpose was actually shaped and refined as I wrote, so I had a much clearer idea what it was I was writing about by the time my draft was completed. However, the sort of writing that I am used to invloves planning and mapping out ideas before the actual writing begins, and that made this sort of writing feel like a stretch to me. I wasn't comfortable writing paragraphs when I hadn't predetermined the order in which my ideas would develop.