My W.C. Experience (and other ramblings)

I am beginning to think about what writing consultants actually do in the sessions. We’ve talked about the general ideas, and it all sounds great in theory. But in person, it’s probably going to be a little harder leading students to enlightenment with your carefully thought out questions. You are trying to improve the writer more than the editable paper in front of you! Being a writing consultant seems like such a huge responsibility. Is anyone else a little nervous about knowing what to say? Or trying to direct a discouraged writer into the realm of confidence? Or avoiding the standard “Don’t worry, it’s a great paper!”?

It may or may not help that I've been in the customer service industry since I began working. I’m hoping it will serve as positive reinforcement as consultant training progresses. All of my previous jobs involved making people happy, selling them the product, and becoming their best friend within 30 seconds of greeting them. And it was difficult to be continually upbeat and outgoing about something I could not have cared less about. What can I say? It's easier for me to get excited about the writing process than overpriced Burberry outfits for toddlers.

I haven't observed any sessions yet, but I have been to the Center twice as a client. I want to remember how it felt before I do my first observation, and that is mainly what I’ll be using this blog post for. My Writing Center experience took place last year. I was a bit apprehensive, but the consultant made me feel comfortable. I just knew he had been through what I was going through, and I liked the equal footing. He was not a professional, but I could tell that between the two of us, my paper could be fixed. As we sat down, I told him I was very nervous because a) I was only a freshman and b) My first paper in college was going to be thirteen pages long. This did not deter my consultant at all. He made a quick copy of my paper, and then asked me to read it out loud. I laughed, and all too quickly realized that he was serious. What was this, kindergarten or something? I accidentally expressed this sentiment out loud, adding that it always sounds so weird when you read your own paper out loud. But read aloud I did. I ended up fixing most of my errors as I went. Convoluted sentence structure and misspelled words just jumped off the page as I read in the softest voice possible, so other tables would not be able to hear the words I had attempted to make into a genuine college paper.

We went over the guidelines of the paper to make sure I had followed them, and I distinctly remember my consultant saying he was impressed. He told me I had a distinct style of writing, which was apparently rare to see in college freshmen like myself. Sometimes all a gal needs is a little encouragement, you know?

So that was my first experience, and it hooked me on the Writing Center because no one was just telling me what to do. I had learned a new way of revising my papers. For me, the Writing Center was the best kind of peer review. If the distribution of my paragraphs or my MLA citation format were questionable, the information could be had. Sitting directly across the table from me was a person who did not mind discussing my writing for a half hour or more. Unlike traditional peer editing, I did not even have to reciprocate the favor! Forgive my cheesiness, but it was love at first consultation.

I apologize for the rambling, and I pinky swear that my next blog entry will be more relevant to the readings and/or class discussion from the week.