The last 2 days straight I’ve been attempting to pull together a blog post with no luck. Unclear sentences, rambling ideas, ugh! So, I’ve decided to sit on it for the time being and tackle it with fresh eyes later. In the meantime, I’ll expound on something else – writing!
Writing and I have a sorted history! Our love/hate affair goes way back to elementary school. I don’t remember exactly what grade I was in, but we had to do some creative writing consistently for class – say once a week. One week, I wrote a story about a flower, but did it from the perspective of the flower itself. It got rave reviews & I was asked to read it to the class! Yay for me!
Fast forward into high school and Honors English. Here’s where I really remember being forced into the land of essays and things took a turn for the worst. (Just thinking about it gives me the willies!) We read the classics, of course, and were asked to dissect them. I quickly discovered that I am not an essay-writing girl. If I was required to write 3 pages, I could crank out 2-1/2. The teacher would say, “expand on this idea” and I would think, “I already made my point”. Needless to say, both the teachers and I were frustrated. (And I never did understand the point of Henry James’s Daisy Miller!)
And in college, well, I was a Music Performance and Interior Design double major – can you say, “no papers”? Years later, I took a job as the press person for our local art center and discovered that while essays may always be my nemesis, my skills work fairly well for the real world. Luckily, I have no plans to take another Honors English class. So, I think I’m home free!
In this age of social media and computers, every artist and business owner is asked to write. Facebook posts, tweets, Instagram captions, verbiage for your website, stories for your blog – we do it all the time! And my hope is to communicate clearly and effectively – whether it is about a flower’s average day, the symbolism in Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, or an April blog post to you! So, cheers to everyone honing their skills one word at a time!
Do you love writing? Or is the verdict still out?
I don’t think essay writing is such a common task in school across different education systems. For example, I don’t remember such a strong focus on essays during my schooling in Italy. So I was somewhat taken aback when I did my studies in the UK.. it was hard to figure out what to write and how, based on expectations and set formats. I can be quite extemporary and spontaneously creative, but I don’t think I honed my writing skills very well, sadly. On the other hand, having been am avid reader as a child and teen, gave me a good command of vocabulary, even later in new adopted languages. Also, I tend to be a bit convoluted and not clearly organised in my outlines – probably due to the lack of familiarity and practice with the approach to essay-writing. I believe that writing well is a crucial skill, which I should really improve 😉
Wow! Is English not your first language? That’s incredible! You are way in front of the pack, all things considered! I’m definitely with you on vocabulary. I’ve always liked words, spelling, & grammar. It’s the combining them into something interesting and worthwhile where I can get hung up!
I love that you always respond – thank you so much! We’ll become better writers together! Have a great day!!!
Thank you for your kind words! Yes, we’ll get to master our writing in time… let’s just keep at it 🙂 Have a lovely one you too! All the best
I’m with you!!!
I do like writing–I wouldn’t be blogging if I didn’t. I like certain kinds of writing more than others. And I think the most important aspect of being a better writer is to read all the time, see what appeals to you as “excellent writing,” and identify what makes it strong. Then try to incorporate those techniques in your own work.
So smart! I love your approach!