The Bear: A Metaphor for Writing

This wonderful metaphor was written by Devin Hartman, one of my freshman composition students, about his progress on an essay draft.


For me, writing isn't something that needs to be carefully prepared or thought out like some kind of malicious plot. Writing is an art in which anything can happen at anytime, in any location, whenever it chooses to manifest itself. A bear does not wake each morning, emerge from its den and decide what it wants to eat and then spend the whole day searching for that one item. Instead the bear will eat anything and everything it can get its paws on. The bear acts on its own instinct. He knows he needs to eat as much as possible in order to survive the winter. Bears do not plan out their day-to-day lives; they find a starting point and just go with it. Whatever happens to the bear on that day happens; the bear has no means of controlling anything.  I see writing as the same concept. One can plan all they like, but they can never control what they write and write well at the same time. The only way to truly write is to mentally get lost in what one is currently writing about and just go with it. Ride it out and see where it takes you. Mistakes are correctable. Simple ideas can be built stronger. Don't try to make a paper flawless the first time; worrying only makes everything worse.