Restory

Patrick (U.S.A.)

[Reflection]

 When I am writing at my best, I would say I am a boxing contender on the night when they become champ. The document is an opponent that has possibly underestimated just how prepared I am for the moment. I am walking my opponent into the punches I want to throw. I am not reacting but rather I am dictating the terms of engagement. I am leading the dance so to speak. To think about the metaphor during times when I am not writing well, I am just reacting. I am being walked into traps—traps in the literature and traps in the individual sentences. It is at those points that I am not quite clear how I got into a corner and I don’t know how to get out. I am fighting at my opponent’s pace, while I can win fight their pace (getting something written that can be published), I am not usually pleased with the outcome. I only got stuff done but I did not necessarily excel. If I were to extend this metaphor, my corner may all of the books and articles I read. I could imagine Stuart Hall, Daphne Brooks, and Herman Gray working my corner, telling me what they are seeing in my opponent. But for as much as they are able to give me guidance, it’s just me and the page in the ring. As a corner, they provide counsel between rounds. I can return to their work and build on their instruction. When I am loving writing, I am in a groove. I am seeing the punches before they are thrown. I am able to side-step and account for anything that is thrown at me. I am also able to riff. When I get stuck writing, I have the most success when I go back to the basics. In boxing, it’s how do you throw a 1-2 or a jab and right hand. When I am stuck, it’s about getting back to writing simple but clear sentences. Sometimes there is a desire to put “too much sauce” on the writing. Before I can write beautifully or I attempt to be clever, I come back to the basics. What is it that I’m trying to say and what is the clearest way to get my point across? Sometimes, this also requires returning to seemingly “beginner” texts like “Craft of Research” and “Elements of Style”. These books remind me of the basic structures for conveying ideas on paper. This process is not dissimilar to basketball player going through a shooting slump. After they have a bad night shooting, they may go stand under the rim and shoot really simple shots. The goal with this kind of shooting is to re-establish their form and for them to simply see the ball go in the basketball hoop.