The Critical Think Before the Ink-Rehearsal

Writing ideas swirl round in my head. I live with them for days and sometimes weeks before they emerge on the page. I frequently wake up thinking about the possible shape of my writing for that day. Most days I wake thinking about my writing for that day. Later in the morning over a welcome cappuccino, I might talk about it, do some associated reading and begin scratching out preliminary ideas. I willingly embrace the swirling and mingling, happening in my head. Further sorting out takes place. -All this is part of the rehearsal for the writing to follow.

I understand rehearsal is critical to my writing. I embrace it as an integral part of writing. It assists me in clarifying my ideas; to find my direction. 

Playing with words and ideas in one's head is such an important part of the writing process. Think of it like a tumble drier with thoughts and ideas rolling around and around until they are ready to be taken out and spread across the page. They emerge warm and ready to go.

Mind you, there are times when all that emerges is a single sock of an idea –along with a bit of fluff attached. It looks and feels incomplete. These are words in need of further consideration. But that’s okay; it may just require further shaping to align the mind’s vision with the text trapped on the page. It might just require some distance before returning with renewed purpose and direction. Rehearsal is critical, but it remains imperfect.

I find myself constantly reminding young writers that while they undertake a significant amount of their writing in the classroom, it is beyond the classroom that most of the ideas they get for writing crop up. I want them to fully understand this distinction. It remains important to apprise them of that important fact. 

For this reason, rehearsal needs to embedded in the mind of the developing writer, so when they walk through the classroom door each morning, they have a vision of their very own ‘hot topic’ for the day. It is another example of the writer as thinker. The meta-cognitive writer begins to emerge. 

This is very much an achievable goal. I have watched the awareness levels of young writers rise significantly when this behaviour is encouraged as part of their personal writing process.

As teachers of writing, we must continue drawing the connection between student thinking and its potential for alerting them to ideas, issues, and the world in general. If they are more alert to thinking, and more alert to possibility, observation is greatly enhanced. 

Modelling my own rehearsal processes provides powerful demonstrations of the writer in action. Hopefully, it fosters the development of such behaviours in the young writers I teach. I must be what I want them to become.