In Sarah Allen's article, "The Inspired Writer vs. The Real Writer," she attempts to explain to writers that not does so, because they enjoy to write.  She explains to students how she would not consider writing for her a "like kind of thing," meaning it's more of an "antagonistic kind of thing."  She also says, she is not good at writing if it means the words come to her easy.  She explains that even real writers have trouble getting the words down onto paper.  Sarah tells readers that she believes that the natural talent of writing should always be available to us.  This sounds like a perfect world, because writing a paper does not come easy for many individuals.  Allen gives a piece of advice I found interesting.  She tells the readers that imitating other pieces of writing, not plagiarism, but the way other writers engage and explore their ideas and research.  She compares writing to being black squiggles on a page, and explains that no matter what, writing always gets a reaction from the reader.  Whether this be a smile, sigh, yawn, or even rolling eyes.  Allen concludes telling us that there is always more to write, and always another blank sheet of paper.

BEFORE YOU READ
     Before I begin to write a something, whether it be a research paper, rough draft of an essay, or even a to do list I have noticed I do in fact, have a few rituals.  I never noticed this, until this question was brought to my attention.  Before I sit down, I make sure to grab a drink to have close by, something that will not matter if it gets a little warm from sitting so long.  I also noticed, that I never start a paper or any source of writing by typing.  I always start my writings on an old notebook so I can go back and revise or add new ideas while I am typing.  I noticed it makes my papers longer, and also helps me to concentrate more, and catch errors in my punctuation and grammar the second time around. 

     In Carol Berkenkotter and Donald M. Murray's article, "Decisions and Revisions: The Planning Strategies of a Publishing Writer,"  they are actually corresponding pieces.  Donald is more of a response to what Carol is doing as her experiment.  Carol wanted to attempt to show the audience that an area difference can effect a professional writer.  Carol studied Donald in a new environment, giving him an hour to complete a writing.  He talks about feeling rushed, as his reasoning that the writing was not as best as usual.  When he was verbally doing the work he found this much easier since he is used to muttering under his breath.  Donald seemed surprised to see how long it took him to plan what he was going to do, before actually taking the time to do it.  He spent more time planning than he did editing and reading over his own paper.  The main point of this article was to show that when moved from an unusual environment to which you are not used to, is going to corrupt your thought process more than you realize.  That is why I believe many people do have "writing rituals."

DISCUSSION AND JOURNALING
     This article changed Carol Berkenkotter's understanding of the writing process, because she realized when a professional writer (Donald Murray) was placed in a different area he was more concerned on constructing or planning his writing than he was on actually editing and evaluating his work.  She comes to understand this could really clash with the final draft of the paper being written. 

APPLYING AND EXPLORING IDEAS
     I have realized after this article that I have many different writing habits.  Like I discussed in "Before You Read," I always need my bottle of water and old notebook, incase I miss a few extra points I wanted to make in my writing.  My writing experience is of course not close to being professional, but I will give myself some credit, because of the hard work I put into every paper I write.  Writing is not so much of a chore, and I actually enjoy it in the right environment.  No matter what, there is always room for improvement.  While I may be pleased with my work, there could always be more added or evaluated.  There are times when I could put a little more effort or an extra hour or two into my work just to improve on the little things. Little edits such as that, make a paper even better to read.

META MOMENT
     In reading this writing I have learned to stay in an area I feel comfortable to be for writing an important paper.  The slightest thing could throw you off track, and then the idea could be lost forever.  Writing needs to be handled with care, and takes much thought and time.  I have realized how important "writing rituals" are to myself, and probably many other amateur and professional writers.

     In my opinion, I thought the article was very amusing.  My favorite part of the article was to learn that even the best of writers could be put into a new place, and feel trapped or lost in their writing.  It makes me feel better to know that I am not the only one that can have this happen to myself.  I have found myself lost in thought in the library, where everything is very quiet.  I think this will be helpful to me in different areas as to understand that writing is not just about the editing and evaluating, but the research and exploring of your own thoughts and ideas to form the writing itself.  Although the article was interesting, I wish that I could see this experiment used on more modern day writers, such as Steven King, J.K. Rowling, or even Stephenie Myers.  I would love to see how a different climate, room, or setting would change their thought process, and how their work would turn out.