The Tomorrow That Never Comes

 As an English major I have been told time and time again that the key to writing a well written paper is writing many drafts and editing them many times. Although I understand how in theory this makes sense, it is a practice I hardly ever follow. The reality of the matter is that the only time I write a rough draft of a paper is when my teacher requires me to do so. I do not find anything wrong with writing rough drafts and am sure that they help in the writing process but for me it has always been unnecessary step I have skipped whenever possible. How many of you can identify with having weeks to complete an assignment but waiting until the day before to bang it out? My friend insists that she does this because she writes better if she is under pressure and feels that her papers would not be as good if she had worked on them for a longer period of time. I find myself doing the same thing she does and waiting until the day before to write my papers not because I am foolish enough to believe the my paper turns out better written the night before, but because I am guilty of leaving things until the last possible second. Every time I have an assignment I find myself planning out the days I will use to complete it: I imagine all the drafts I will write, and the several days I will have to edit it. Throughout the course of many years I have to terms with the fact that is wishful thinking because this almost never occurs unless a teacher requires me to complete multiple drafts. The fact that I can write papers the night before and receive an A on them is the reason why I believe that I have not changed my ways. As long as this is my reality I will continue to be one of those people who leave things for the last minute because she knows she can get away with it. Completing papers in a timely and orderly fashion is fine but nothing beats the drama of cranking out a paper hours before its due and being rewarded with an A for your effort. One thing I hope to make clear is that the quality of my paper does not lessen because I chose to leave it until the last minute. I try to make sure that I produce a quality paper each and every time I turn something in because although I do not believe the grades are the end all be all I do take pride in getting good grades for the hard work I put I in.