On Becoming A Better Writer

Learning to construct letters and words together into an interesting and coherent structure has been a life-long journey for me.  I wish I had the ability to say “here are the three tips that made me a better writer.”

However, I am on this journey with everyone else and by no means have I arrived at “good writing.”

I love the cadence of the keystrokes as I construct my work.  But I’m fully cognizant that some of my friends are truly passionate about grammar, sentence structure, punctuation, and the beauty of well-constructed sentences.

I wish that level of detail made my heart smile.

It does not.

What makes my heart smile is conveying ideas to others and often I get so excited that I leave words out of my sentences, I forget to punctuate properly, and I simply fail to utilize proper grammar.  It is simply not my giftedness.  My giftedness is the idea.  However I also know that being able to clearly communicate my idea is critical.

While I’m on the writing journey here are some things which are strengthening my writing:

1.       I am a reader.  I consume the work of others.  John Maxwell stated something akin to “leaders are reader” and I propose writers are readers! 

I believe to truly be well-written, one must be well-read.  Sure I believe the passion to tell one’s story through one’s art is given and must flow out of the artist.  However that artist learns, grows wiser, and refines.

2.       Allow others to critique your work.  I remember the first time my supervisor (who was a truly gifted writer) gave me feedback on my writing.  It looked like a murder had occurred on the page due to so much red ink!

That feedback helped me learn my patterns and where I tended to make my mistakes.  For example I am completely reluctant to use commas.  I had a Freshman English professor (Graduate Student) for two semesters who gave a 50% for the first comma splice then a zero on the paper if there were more than one comma splice.

So I learned quickly to simply avoid putting commas anywhere.  Instead of truly learning the rules, I just learned to complete a comma “fast” which earned me a passing grade.  As I have progressed through my education (and paying dearly for an editor on the dissertation) I have repeatedly regretted not getting more out of Freshman English classes!

While I highly encourage you to utilize someone who cares for you but will “speak the truth in love” there will be times your work is critiqued by those who care nothing about your feelings.  That is when you have to recognize that it is not personal and you can still garner wisdom from the feedback.

As an individual moves forward, I believe the abilities to convey ideas, thoughts, opinions, and to communicate effectively are essential.  You owe it to yourself to become the best writer you can be, to consume the work of others, and to allow others to guide you to new heights.