There are three main phases to the writing process: planning, drafting, and revising. You will find as you write, however, that writing is recursive. It is not linear. Even though it would be easier to plan, draft, and then revise your work and turn it in, that’s not the way that writing happens. Instead, the process is messy. What this means is that even though we may want to follow steps a, b, and c in that order, instead you may follow steps a, b, a, c, a, b (and so on…) instead. The process that you follow will vary based on your purpose for writing, what you are writing, and the steps that may be required by your individual instructor.