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Cody Duvall
Instructor Ashley Marcum
UWRT 1101-010
9 February 2016
I have learned from this project that I do not enjoy writing, my writing process leads me
down a road of what feels like hopelessness, as I write this paper I fear it is wrong. I do enjoy
reading certain materials but most academic studies or stories I wish the class could do without.
Reading words I cannot pronounce makes me feel dumb sure, but when am I going use a word
like melancholia? Except when pick up a Smashing Pumpkins record, spelled Mellon Collie, or
maybe to describe my mood as Im writing this. As far as my literacy is concerned I accept that I
will not measure up to most of my peers. I feel that if I included a snapshot of my favorite or
worst writing experience I would be better prepared to explain the extent of my literacies.
Perhaps, by me not choosing those prompts explains my literacy best.
The feedback I received from my classmates was positive they seemed to enjoy my
fabricated reader and writer stories. Classroom feedback helped me organize myself, to see how
others were putting their works together and how mine was a bunch of loose papers with some
words in it. I feel my snapshot of Picturing a Writer was the high point of this project, I had the
most fun in writing it because I didnt focus on me at all. Hindsight tells me that it was done
wrong, but hey I did what I did. While I was revising the snapshots I really just focused on the
order of events trying to make sure my grammar was correct, and that I explained it enough to be
close to the length of the page so I could complete the assignment. My snapshot My Writing
Process best explains my journey and hardship to completing this assignment. If I could continue

to revise one snapshot it would be my Picturing a Writer, again I enjoyed that one the most, and
I do like an interesting author story.
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I am still trying to discover my writing process this is really the first time I was given a
free range write what you feel papers. I try to let the words flow but every time I see the red
squiggly line on the page I get distracted and want to fix the spelling mistake before I continue. I
then lose focus on what I was writing about and have to reread what I already wrote, sometimes
delete everything and start again. If I see that I used the same word twice to describe something
or open up with the same word I then retreat to a thesaurus web page to find a different word that
might make me sounds smarter, again this distracts me.
I tend to make one draft save it and then on the due date I will review it for errors. I never
share my work with a buddy to review unless it offers some comic relief that I want to share.
Most times I feel stressed when writing because I have only ever wrote on a deadline and for a
grade. So I want it to be perfect but then there is a point where I dont know which direction to
go in. Do I stop here did I get my point across, is this what the instructor was expecting when
they gave me this assignment all these thoughts racing through my head as I write.
I dont usually deviate from this train of thought when I write. I believe my only
recurring writing process is when I type up emails. I still feel like emails are a formal letter that
deserve special attention. I will make sure everything is spelled right, everything is in good order
make sure I attached any links that need to be sent, type and retype the introduction and casually
end in a very respectfully -Cody.

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Most of my ideas when I think of a writer is from pop culture. I flash back to all the
movies and television shows I have watched. I see them drinking scotch in an office surrounded
by wooden furniture with a stack of papers on one side, an empty page fitted into the typewriter
in front of them. There is a window behind them where out you see an inspirational view that
represents their writing style. An ashtray sits under his smoldering cigarette where it sat most of
the night. He has not seen the outside world for 6 days. The toaster hangs from a shower head
down the hall, bath to the brim with water. His hallway is left with picture frame scars, broken
glass shards on top of a rug that runs the length of the hall.
Damaged from last nights fight at the bar, he stands a little hunched he stumbles out the
door way. He pauses to take in the silence of it all, as he stairs out at the shattered glass, realizing
only hours ago the volume that those halls produced. His wife lay at the base of the stairs
motionless, pale eyes open staring at the ceiling. A grandfather clock past her rings on the hour,
the tolls on the bell carry the writer to the bathroom. He begins to lay in the tub as he sinks
further water overflows onto the granite floor. He takes hold of the toasters cable flashing back to
what took place. There is a tear forming in his eye, a spark of fear, he closes his eyes. Hes
beginning to believe.
I, as a writer have never been through such ordeals. I write in a simple room, no
typewriter just pen and pencil. I dont have strange backgrounds that led me to be the writer I am
today. I only write when I am required, where I would think authors are expected to write. I dont
think I can relate to this writer much at all, his thought process develops a lot differently than my

own. Where I take my inspiration from being told to complete assignments, the author takes his
from a deeper place.
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Picturing a reader I see a stereotypical book worm with glasses face in a
book, sitting or lying alone on the couch, the end table light illuminates the page.
They read some future fantasy novel to escape into another world different from
their own. They are dressed in what they wear to bed, bare feet protruding out of
long johns maybe. Or an old man sitting at a desk reading a classic book that he has
been reading since he was young. Some college kid reading up on his study
material in a library trying to catch up before finals. Now I would think it would be
common for most people to read texts or articles on their phone opposed from a
newspaper.
Me as a reader I tend to do it when I have down time and have nothing to do.
For a while I used to bring a book with me to the laundry mat plug in some
headphones to drown out the sounds of the tumbling machines and read until my
laundry was done. If I was at work and there was nothing to do I would pull out a
book. More or less it would be a military survival manual.
I think of most readers setting aside time to read, like an hour a day, or just
before sleep reading a chapter and then pass out. There are very few books that
have kept my interest and that I actually made time to finish reading. My ideas
about readers would be from movies and television. I didnt have a family that like
to read I would never see anyone with a book in hand. I often recommend books to
my family now, I tend to buy books and then give them to the family to distribute

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among themselves, most time I find them unread where I left it, so sometimes I
wonder why I even bother.
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My favorite reading experience is not necessarily the book that I read but the
events that led up to the reading. It was my first night at work as operational
security forces in the United States Air Force. It was snowing that day so we were
told to not travel as much with our vehicles to avoid accidents. I was posted 12
hours on the flight line with a stranger. I was expecting the worst because he was a
seasoned Airman and it seemed like I would be do all the working that night. After
he gave me the tour of the flight line and cutting donuts in the snow down the
length of the taxiway, we finally stopped the truck and let the engine idle. It was
when we were sitting there that he pulls out a book and tells me that he will read a
chapter outload and then I would read a chapter, back and forth until the shift was
over.
The book was I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell by Tucker Max. The book is a
compilation of autobiographical stories from him in college and abroad of his friends
and his adventures of drugs and sex. Some of these stories that I have read were
extremely funny. I didnt know that funny books existed. I have always hated
reading because I could not find anything that caught my interest and that shift I
found it. I borrowed the book and finished it in a couple days. I returned it and he
told me about another book that was coming out of his Assholes Finish First which is
the first book I ever purchased for myself.

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From there I began to read other books, I was told Fight club was a book, so I
read that and continues to read three other Chuck Palahniuk books. It opened up a
new world of reading to me when I could compare books to movies and express the
phrase the book was better than the movie, I never understood how. If I wouldnt
have been reading that book that night I probably would have given up on books by
now.
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While I was in the military I encouraged a lot of my troops with acts of
sponsorships one in particular was for them to study their training material. I was a
very young staff sergeant and often I would be asked how I made it so far in such a
short time. The response was simple I studied. Every test I took, every exercise they
put me through I was prepared. Now there is more to promoting then just studying. I
had to keep my nose clean, work to be recognized but none of that would have
happened if I was not first recognized in the class room.
Most of my troops studied as they should have and most went on to have the
same levels of success as myself. I know when I joined I did not have this mindset of
studying, all I wanted to do was party and get paid. It took my first supervisor to
drag me into the office every day after work to study one on one for my upcoming
qualification exam, I hated every minute of it. I felt it was a waste of time because I
could already recite everything in the study material after the first week.
The material was easy it was just the repetitiveness of it drove me crazy. He
would ask me questions one after the other, then do it backwards then jump around
the pages randomly the same questions the same answers. It was really just a

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memory game, but if I had not done that I would not have been as proficient as I
was the day of testing. I would not have been recognized and I would not have
studied as vigorously for my future exams. It also reduced the time it took me to do
quizzes and test while everyone was spending hours on the test it took me half the
time.
If time machines existed and they might, I would return to 2009 Korea and
thank my supervisor. My hope is that those troops I left in the service continue
teaching this lesson to the younger generations and his impact becomes the
standard for many. I try to uphold this model of thinking, to stay on top of my
schoolwork, though sometimes I stray from the path.

In a sentence, indicate the degree to which the draft shows promise of fulfilling the
assignment.
Cody does a good job in fulfilling the assignment by using voice, descriptive details,
imagery and vitality.
Is the writer's tone appropriate? Who is the audience?
Yes, his tone is appropriate and the audience is the class.
Looking at the essay as a whole, do the snapshots taken together give a clear picture of
the authors literacy history and present?
Yes, the snapshots taken together give a clear picture of the authors literacy history in the
past and present by his use of imagery.
Are the needs of the audience kept in mind? For instance, do some words need to be
defined? Is the evidence (for instance, the examples and the testimony of authorities)
clear and effective?
Cody does a good job with using words that are not challenging to understand.

Can I accept the assumptions? If not, why not?

Is any obvious evidence (or counterevidence) overlooked?

Does the author show the cultural, political, socio-economic, etc. factors that influence
his/her literacy?
Yes, he expresses how the United States Air Force was a huge influence on his literacy.
Does the author use storytelling to relate significant literacy events with techniques of
creative non-fiction, details, descriptions, dialogue, imagination, risks, etc.?

Yes, his snapshots of picturing a writer and reader illustrates details, descriptions,
dialogue, imagination, and risks.
Looking at each paragraph separately,
o What is the basic point?
How Cody inquired his literacy throughout the years.
o How does each paragraph relate to the essay's main idea or to the previous
paragraph?
Talks about Cody ideas on how he inquired literacy with the help of some literacy
sponsors.
o Should some paragraphs be deleted? Be divided into two or more paragraphs? Be
combined? Be put elsewhere? (If you outline the essay by writing down the gist of
each paragraph, you will get help in answering these questions.)
All his paragraphs are well structured so they shouldnt be deleted.
o Is each sentence clearly related to the sentence that precedes and to the sentence
that follows? If not, in a sentence or two indicate examples of good and bad
transitions.
Yea, each sentence clearly related to the sentence that precedes and to the
sentence that follows.
Is each paragraph adequately developed? Are there sufficient details, perhaps
brief supporting quotations from the text?
Yes, each paragraph is adequately developed and Cody has more than sufficient
details.
o When using sources, does the author introduce the title and author of the work
before quoting or paraphrasing from the article? Are books, magazines, and
newspapers in italics? Are articles, chapters, and shorter works in quotations?
Yes, he follows the rule by having the titles of the books in his paper in italics.
What are the paper's chief strengths?
Codys papers chief strengths are his use of descriptive details and vitality to create the
mental picture for the reader.
o

Make at least two specific suggestions that you think will assist the author to improve the
paper.
He should just reword a sentence I commented on and add a conclusion.