Revision: Who Else Hates It?

[RENLEAHY@idbsu.idbsu.edu]

Linda, I raise my hand, too. I have no fear of the proverbial blank page; I
can always fill it with something. The real fear comes when I have to face
that draft and figure out what sense it makes. That's when I exhibit all the
avoidance behavior that's usually associated with writing the first draft. But
now I take my hand down, because once I do get into revising I find I enjoy it
quite a lot. It's when real creating takes place--for me, anyway.

As for what that has to do with writing center administration, I second
Barry's idea; how people go about writing has a lot to do with personality
type. It's important for tutors to be aware that the writers they work with
come at writing, as they come at all learning and knowledge, in very different
ways. There is no wrong way to get something written--just some ways that work
better than other ways for certain writers doing certain writing tasks. I
think you're absolutely right that we tend to push our own preferences. That's
probably not entirely bad, but study of personality types keeps us from losing
perspective.

Each time we run the tutor training course, someone from our counseling center
administers the MBTI and visits class to take us through the implications of
it. We supplement this with material from the book by Jensen and Tiberio,
_Persoality and the Teaching of Writing_, and the excellent article by
Scharton and Neuleib, "The Gift of Insight," in the collection _The Writing
Center: New Directions_.

Rick Leahy Boise State U.