Writing Well: Four Points

All writers want to write well. It is a goal, which as a community we share. In fact, it is something that we strive for, this improving this making things better something to read. Writing well is an art form and many writers like to think that how they write is improving all the time. Often if we are close to our work and put in a lot of effort, we really do not want to be told that our writing needs more word. I suspect deep down it hurts our pride to admit that after several years of writing… our writing is still a work in progress, where we can not admit that we are a bit too passionate in our writing.

There are four basic points, which all writers can look at and find that they cannot only reach the goal of writing well, but also accepting that, yes we are all a work in progress.

Word counts count for something: See, as a writer we set goals, say writing 500 words a day, but sometimes we will hit our goal, and look at the page count, and nothing much has changed. We forget that adding a word here and there and cutting out and adding, is in fact editing. To many writers 500 words a day means 500 new words of writing, after editing.

Editing is something, but know if you are editing or writing well: There are, I believe, two types of editing, one, which is rewriting a paragraph or changing the grammar and one which is more reader based, cutting and pasting for the greater good, and for improving reader enjoyment. Both are needed to write well.

Critics are needed but knowing who to listen to is a must: Your would be writer friend is not someone who you should listen to when they give all sorts of advice (or at least not all of the time!). Your writing mentor giving constructive is. Knowing that one will improve what you do and how you do it and one will make you work harder and not smarter is a way of writing well.

Improving each day is a part of the whole process: If you want to write well, and to have other think that you are writing well, there is a need to improve. Not simply editing but also how you go about writing your work. For some people knowing that they function better in the morning than at night is one way of improving your writing. Knowing that editing is harder for you than anything else means you should learn a bit more about it. Writing well is indeed an art, and also an art of knowing yourself.