My first instinct is that students often feel like imposters when they sit down to write. From every angle, they are receiving information about writing and its processes. Whether that means they are getting reinforcement and praise in regards to their writing that they honed in K-12 or they are reforming their whole conception of what writing is when they enter a college classroom, there are many voices competing for recognition in their heads. I have found this to be true in my own experience, especially, as an Undergraduate in the first quarter of college.

The perception of what writing actually entails, or, functionally, what it looks like, also impacts students’ internal narratives as they sit down to write. I think that there are many misconceptions about writing, not to mention the romanticized tropes, that can box students into a corner and make them feel like an imposter. The image of the tortured novelist, the witty academic, or the theory-seeped intellectual suffering for hours on their writing can make people feel like outsiders before they even begin the writing journey. In many ways, these tropes have almost become de facto rules in and of themselves. As Mike Rose talks about in his article: “Rigid Rules, Inflexible Plans, and the Stifling of Language: A Cognitivist Analysis of Writer’s Block,” rules such as these can function as blocks or guides. Ultimately, with any advanced problem solving activity (like writing), the rules need to be loose enough to allow flexibility while prescriptive enough to actually offer some architecture.

I would like to be able to help students move past some of these self-defeating rules and perceptions. I know that I fall prey to these things myself as well, and, as with many elements in the teaching world, I am continually learning alongside my students. When I have been able to get a student to let go and shift these perceptions it has felt really rewarding. Just the other day, I got the sense that one student in particular felt like the free writing activities we were doing weren’t useful. After some back and forth, I realized that what was really fueling this was, as mentioned earlier, a misconception about what creative writing like this would actually look like. It was really rewarding to test her on these ideas, and, then, to see her give the free write another, dare I say, college try. I think that the more we can dispel these stymieing rules and misconceptions, the better we will be able to move students past the phase of feeling like an imposter, and, instead, onto the stage where the writing process becomes truly beneficial and enjoyable.