ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the near constant arising of inner discursivity that occurs in human consciousness as a factor in a rhetorical situation. Intrapersonal rhetoric is the most immediate discourse available to students: first on the rhetorical scene, its shaping influence on subsequent external rhetoric should not be underestimated. All writing, no matter genre or audience, begins as intrapersonal communication despite how writers continue to dwell on the interpersonal future. In addition to purveying content for writing, the intrapersonal foments preconceptions and other writing liabilities. As a result, the intrapersonal is both a low and a high-stakes event: it’s low stakes in the sense of a frequent, unrevised, and private communication; on the other hand, the intrapersonal is high stakes in that it’s hugely influential on the writing situation, impacting writing self-efficacy and perceptions of audience. Writing is a private, internal discursivity that takes on the paradoxes of self and other, ones illuminated by Buddhist theories of no-self. Learning to control inner rhetoric through mindful metacognition benefits student writers in a myriad of ways in addition to finding content, not the least of which is its confirmation of writing ability and dissolution of writing blocks.
