Hey, what’s up, guys. Welcome to the writing process of a UC Davis undergraduate. Being in the quarter system, a student struggles to keep up with their schedules because they have ten-week to finish college courses. While the quarter system gives us the flexibility to take finish more courses in a school year, it is much more stressful and exhausting. However, UC students perceive it.
This quarter, I decided to take two studio classes that were about 4 hours long and met twice a week. The other two classes met only once a week for 2-4 hours. Tuesday’s were my busiest days; I would start school at 10 am and would finish around 7:30 pm. I hated this day specifically because it was a lot of work in one day.
To begin my week, I would start with my favorite class, UWP01. Because this class was a hybrid, we met up once a week for two hours but had more assignments online due on Thursday’s, Friday’s and Tuesday’s. Knowing this I had to find it within my self to organize my time in order to finish research on my topic and write a draft by Thursday’s. It was going to be a challenge but I had much motivation to thrive this quarter.
After UWP 1 was dismissed, I had an hour gap before Design 14 began, so I would run to the MU and grab a cub of coffee and make my way to the best hall out there, Cruess Hall. I found it crucial to grab a cup of coffee from the MU to feel like a true writer.
After grabbing my chai latte, I would sit on the second floor of Cruess and start my research on Google Scholar or Jstor to find some juicy content on my topic. Often I would only read the content that I would find through these scholarly sites and write notes and would continue to do so after Design 14 would be dismissed. By the end of the each Tuesday, I would have a list of many sources and notes that I could potentially help me write the next day. I found this method to be extremely useful because I used that time between classes to get work done and come home at the end of the day to relax.
The next day, I would have till 3 pm to take write drafts of my blogs/ series. I would usually sit in my dorm for this because I liked how my roommates weren’t here to distract me and gave me that time to work in silence. Towards the first few weeks, I would spend five hours finishing a draft but once I stopped overthinking my drafts, I would limit myself to two hours and laid down a foundation for these papers.
Peer reviews were performed on Friday’s and those really helped me to structure my essay into complete ideas that were coherent. On Saturdays, I would sit in the comfort of my living room and look back on those reviews and make a plan of what I needed to add to refine my essays. I wouldn’t use all my time on Saturdays to work but would break that time for myself. The weekends are crucial for college students because it keeps them from going delusional. When I was done with revision plans I would hang out with my college friends and would forget about work for 3 hours and spend that time exploring Downtown Davis. Afterward, I would come back and redefine my essay.
Before taking this class, I didn’t know one bit of how to make time to write assignments, but this class not only taught me how to become a confident writer but find a process that is the best fit for me.
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