Curious Writer author presents to over 100 students

On Friday, Oct. 10, the First Year Writing Program (FYWP) and the South Texas Writing Project (STWP) hosted a workshop titled “Revisiting The Curious Writer.” The presentation featured Dr. Bruce Ballenger, a professor of composition and author of The Curious Writer, the main textbook used in ENGL 1301 and 1302.Before the lecture, Visiting Assistant Professor of English Deborah Scaggs shared her thoughts about what she hoped students would learn from Ballenger.”My hope is for my students to learn about why we use the text we do, why we focus on ‘writing as a process,’ and why ‘writing as inquiry’-writing to discover, writing to figure out what we want to say-is essential to growth as a writer. Also, I think that…these presentations by writers whom they know or recognize offer students insight into what it means to be a writer and to write,” said Scaggs.As a guest lecturer, Ballenger usually presents to other educators; however, more than 100 university and Early College High School (ECHS) students attended Ballenger’s presentation.”It was remarkable that, on a Friday night, so many students would come [out] to listen,” Ballenger said. The event began with an introduction by Dr. Sean Chadwell, Chair of the Department of Language and Literature. Chadwell discussed what a great opportunity it was to have Ballenger lecture on campus and how Ballenger, a Botany major as an undergraduate, didn’t start off as a writer. Chadwell even added some humor to the occasion.”It doesn’t matter what you major in. As long as you’re not majoring in Business, you’re fine,” he said.Ballenger then took the floor and shared with the audience his past experiences with writing, specifically bad writing.”I hated English,” Ballenger said. He added that since his father was a newspaper reporter, it was a “source of pain” for him to be a bad writer.”I hate writing; I love having written it,” he said.Ballenger continued his discussion about bad writing by commenting that it is the “importance of surprise” that leads to stronger writing.”Writing [is] a means of discovery,” he said.Because of the unexpected number of students in attendance, Ballenger changed his planned presentation. At one point, he asked the audience to do some fastwriting, which he considers “a skill undervalued.” He told students to write about a room in which they had spent a lot of time in as much detail as possible. Then, he asked them to write down what they understood now that they didn’t understand then. Ballenger uses this exercise to illustrate what he refers to as dialectical thinking, the constant back and forth between creative and critical thinking that writers experience.Afterwards, Dr. Ballenger opened the floor to questions.When asked about what made him become a writer, Ballenger related a story about how his father would bring over other reporters to the family home. “I found drunk reporters captivating,” he said.Ballenger also shared his strategy for dealing with writer’s block.”I [lower] my standards,” he said, adding that students should silence their inner critics and give themselves permission to write badly in the beginning of the drafting process. The initial goal is to generate ideas and save revision and editing later. After the event, some members of the audience shared their feelings.”I believe this is one of the better STWP lectures we’ve had. It’s hard to inspire people to [write], [and now, we know] that we can write badly and still succeed,” said Andrew L. Carranso, ECHS Student Government President.”I like what he said about judging too harshly. It reminds me of [American novelist] Anne Lamott’s essay, ‘Shitty First Drafts.’ It is the only way to grow, to write shit,” said Writing Center Associate Director Destine Holmgreen.Junior English major, Brenda De Leon added, “I still have the [Curious Writer] and still read it. It was nice to put a face to the man who helped me so much with my writing.”Having earned a PH.D. in Composition and Literature from the University of New Hampshire, Ballenger currently teaches composition and creative-nonfiction at Boise State University in Idaho. He is also the author of The Curious Researcher and has been published in newspapers and journals such as The Boston Globe and College English. His next book, Crafting Truth: Short Studies in Creative Nonfiction, is due out later this year.