Writing - helps me to crystalize what I am thinking, to organize my sometimes disorganized thoughts. Writing helps me feel better about life and about myself.
Looking back I realize how little I learned about writing in school. I remember the first time a school assignment asked for my thoughts on something, not what I knew, but what I thought, how and why I thought that. I was lost. It was a transition from telling the reader what I had been told, to telling what I thought. I was angry that someone finally was asking. Little did I know that I would spend a large part of my adult life, listening and reading, and trying to figure out how to explain to the world what I think of it.
When I was at Rollins College, I encountered my first really good writing class. Our topic was education theory, we read original sources, wrote, re-read sources, re-wrote, reviewed, edited, re-read more sources and did more editing. By the end of the semester, we had produced something that was original, and good.
Over the years I have learned if I am writing about something I know a lot about, to write it, and do the research and fill in the footnotes later. The first step for me is getting a complete draft, one book described it as fast and dirty, just get the draft done. Then let it set, at least overnight. Reread, edit, change, add to it, take away from it. No matter how much I edit, errors slip through. My brain is not wired to see some of the errors, it never has been, it never will be. It took a long time for me to understand that it is part of how my brain works, it is different, but it works for me. If I let perfection stand in my way, I would never finish anything. Perfect is the enemy of done. I need done.
I almost never write fiction. I wonder if I should. Who would read it?
Both for work and for pleasure, I am writing more than I ever have. I think the more I write, the easier it is. I can't always say the better it gets - that is for others to determine.
What are your tips for writing?
I often rough write and publish but at times I do polish what I am writing and I enjoy it so much...pulling apart sentences to make them read and sound better. Of course at times changing one word can mean you have to change many words to make the sentence correct. It is fun but time consuming. I expect professional writers get it mostly correct as they write, more often than not. Which blogger has never made an error in their writing? If they suggest they don't, I see that as a challenge, which I won't necessarily point out when found, and always they are found. Besides, even if your written skills aren't great, you might publish an interesting blog regardless.
ReplyDeleteI have read things out of very high offices, that had mistakes, that helped me relax a little
DeleteI don’t feel I'm in a position to offer tips, although I was a professional editor and did well at that.
ReplyDeleteAt times, I need an editor
DeleteThis has nothing to do with writing, but with your photo of the Canada Post mailbox. They are so bright and colourful -- why oh why did you filter it to black and white?
ReplyDeleteA mistake, I bumped a setting on the camera and it was an hour or so before I noticed, that I was shooting in monochrome. I just looked and I don't have a color image.
DeleteOne of the most valuable pieces of advice I've ever gotten, from my adviser as I was beginning my dissertation: "Write first, then do the research." If you start research first, you'll keep reading and never get to writing, because you won't have a clear idea of what's important to your thesis and what isn't. Write first, even if it's just a couple of paragraphs, then research to see if you can convincingly demonstrate it. At first this made no sense, but I tried it, after a year of agonizing and self-doubt. One year later I had a nearly complete first draft.
ReplyDeleteGreat advice -
DeleteThe most important piece of writing advice I received from an expert in my field was the following: "Grasshopper, just write. Don't worry that you don't understand what you're writing about; you'll figure it out. You have a deadline, and you want to get paid!" Of course, I think these words best apply to subjects with which we have a least a passing knowledge!
ReplyDeleteI often find that my understanding changes as I write.
DeleteI love your statement that "perfect is the enemy of done". If I was going for perfect, I probably never would have started a blog.
ReplyDeleteSome mornings I read what posted overnight, and either laugh or edit.
DeleteI remember learning cursive and grammar rules but not how to 'write'. Yet we had to write essays. As we all write more these days in emails, I would think 'how' to write (depending on the situation/format) would be important.
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