Read "Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Analaysis of Writer's Block" (WaW 533-46)

Questions for Discussion and Journaling 1, 2, 4 (WaW 545)

QDJ 1, 2, 4 (WaW 545)

1. Create a list of rules that, according to Rose, interfere with the "blockers' " writing.What rules, if any, do you find yourself forced to follow that seem to get in the way of your writing?

• Always catch the audience that will read the paper.
• Write grammatically
• Do one paragraph at a time and stay on that specific paragraph until it is done.
• uncomplementary injunctions

- In school, especially high school, there are many set rules in writing from grammer to spelling, certain words that a person needs to use or does not need to use, what order to put a paper in, how long the paragraphs are, how many words are in the paper, if it sounds formal or professional, are the sources correct, does it sound exciting, the thesis statement needs to catch the reader's attention, etc, There are many things that a person has to remember and think about while writing a paper. It is very stressful, confusing, and it restricts the mind from using those actual writing skills. When a person has a lot of guidelines to follow, their ability to write the paper starts to fade because they are either rushed or too focused on rules to even think about how the paper actually sounds. The imagination and where a person could take a paper is cut off by so many rules being thrown at them at one time. There are hundreds of rules and regulations. This is when a person cannot even focus on the actual purpose of the paper. Most of the time, I am focusing on how to write the paper and what is wrong with the grammer that I get caught up in it. I forget what I am actually writing about and I lose focus on the paper. At that point, I might as well start over because my paper does not clearly say anything about my topic.

2. Describe the difference between the rules that blockers in Rose's study were following and those that non-blockers were following. What accounts for the difference?

- Many of the non-blockers took the paper out of context because they focused way too hard on everything. They focused in on one aspect of the paper and expected the rest of the paper to come together. It is like Ruth in Rose's article. She would always focus her attention on grabbing the reader's attention, or if her sentences were not grammatically correct that the sentence was not useful to the paper. Martha focuses so much on her outline that it becomes too complex and most things get thrown out because they are not clear or are not relevant. With non-blockers, they are very laid back with planning and outline and how they write a paper. Like Ellen for example, she always has a general outline in her mind, but she does not go overboard with the outline like Martha. Ellen does not complicate things with her outline. They are also less restricting by keeping things in mind instead of forcing themselves to do it exactly as the rules say. If it does not sound sensible to what they have experienced in their life then they do not use the rule.

4. Based on Rose's study and descriptions of writers and their rules, write a "rule" explaining what makes a rule good for writers, and what makes a rule bad for writers. You'll get bonus points if you can tell whether your rule is an algorithm or a heuristic.

- If a rule is restricting the fluency of your writing then do not use this rule. If it is a rule that does not make sense, but it helps in writing your paper, then it is a bad rule that you should follow. This rule is heuristic.