Hank The Cowdog Analysis

My first concrete memory of writing occurred when I was eight or nine years old. At that point one of my favorite books was the Hank the Cowdog childrens ' series, which told about the misadventures of a self-styled cow dog on a Texas ranch. I was also enamored with the 1960’s cartoon series Underdog, who was essentially a bumbling canine version of Superman. I saw no reason why these two canine protagonists should not star in a story together, so one day for fun I decided to make a crossover story between Hank the Cowdog and Underdog. I am sorry to say that I mercilessly hijacked the style and conventions of the Hank the Cowdog stories, and in retrospect the fact that I was able to do this is both amusing and interesting. Though I did not …show more content…
Perhaps I will be on a walk and see a lightning-struck tree that is still alive, and then compose a poem about it. I might be reading or watching a movie when a particular phrase jumps off the page at me, and I know I must write this down just to fully realize its implications. Some of my more creative ideas come from normal conversation or even dreams, such as “What would happen if a grown man woke up in the woods with no memory of his life ? What would be his first impressions of the world ? How would he survive ? Usually any one of these inspirations starts a beehive of ideas buzzing in my brain, so after a little mental preparation I will transfer the ideas to paper or screen to look at them coherently. Once I begin writing I will usually not stop until I have fully realized the idea I have. Once one begins writing it is like a rollercoaster: winding, looping, screeching, but never stopping until all the track has been covered. By the time all the pith and marrow of the idea is on the page, I am sufficiently composed to quantify what I have said. This may happen through writing a summary paragraph, revising the work, or writing a new more organized draft. I often write my best in the presence of my inspiration, whether that is a movie, book, or sunset. If these are not readily available, the chair in my bedroom will do just fine. The sooner I begin to write after the initial impetus, the better the writing usually goes. Depending on the purpose of the writing, I may revise stringently or not at all. For academic papers or poems, I will re-write, revise, and edit as much as time allows until the work reaches the point I feel comfortable with it. For my journal entries, I will never usually even read them over after writing. Most often, I write my academic papers on the computer, my poems on my phone, and my journals in a notebook. For me, writing is like a vortex into which I can fall and spend