Read the article "Internal Revision: A Process of Discovery".
THINKING AND WRITING QUESTIONS
1. Compare and contrast internal and external revision. Why make this distinction?
2. Examine Murray's introduction. Where the introductions in "Dyr Mom: Wy R You So Laveab!?" and "Time, Tools, and Talismans" are stories, the introduction to "Internal Revision" is typical of the introductions of academic pieces. Label the parts of Murray's intro¬duction and explain what makes it an introduction for an academic essay.
3. Murray describes writing anxiety as a terror, "The terror of the empty page is real, because you simply do not know what you are doing". Anne Lamott describes writing anxiety as ravenous dogs, "the dogs in their pen who will surely hurtle and snarl their way out if you ever stop writing, because writing is, for some of us, the latch that keeps the door of the pen closed, keeps those crazy ravenous dogs contained". Craig Vetter calls writing anxiety an agony, "writing is a blood sport, a walk in the garden of agony." Talk to your peers about the writing anxieties that you face. To which parts of the act of writing is your anxiety attached? How can you support each other to work through your anxieties?
4. How have you understood revision? As punishment? As fixing your errors? A waste of time? Just more work? An exploration? An oppor-tunity? Discuss with your peers your attitude toward revision. How did you develop this attitude? Has Murray convinced you to see revision as an opportunity for discovery?
5. What part does reading play in revision? Describe the types of read-ing writers do when they review their own work.