People's Interpretation of Writing

Hello all! Today I asked my peers some questions in order to discover how they view writing. My first subject was a fellow political science major who wants to become an attorney. When she thinks about writing, her first thought is how she currently feels. She writes when she is upset and has a lot on her mind. She writes about feelings and fiction. She writes outside and likes that writing allows her to release her millions of thoughts. She does not like how her hand hurts after writing for too long. She says "composing is creating a piece, whereas writing is freedom of expression".

I asked my friend, who comes from two attorney parents, these questions. When she thinks about writing, she thinks about her feelings. She writes whenever she needs to release emotions. She told me she writes about everything that causes her to feel emotional. She also stated that she writes anywhere, as long as she is alone. Her favorite thing about writing is that it lets her release emotion. She dislikes deadlines in professional writing. She stated that writing is a type of composing.

My next subject was my sister, who is interested in managing a law firm one day. When she thinks about writing, she thinks about ways to procrastinate. She only writes when she gets assigned to. She writes whatever her professors assign her to write. She said that she writes in her bedroom and in the library. She likes that writing is the best way to remember things. She dislikes that writing is difficult due to grammar and spelling rules. She told me that composing is not the same thing as writing because "composing involves writing, but there is more to it. Composing a song includes all of the music; not just the words".

According to my peers, writing is both personal and academic. Writing happens when emotions are high and when deadlines are approaching. Assignments and personal thoughts are written. The ability to express oneself is liked about writing, while guidelines are disliked about writing. By seeing other people's perspectives, we learn that writing is interpreted differently by everyone. These opinions agreed with my idea of writing because I also believe writing is cathartic but that stringent rules cause it to be stressful. All my subjects agreed that composing and writing are not the same because composing encompasses more than writing does.