Writing is one of the most important things anyone can do, whether you wish to write a diary, a novel or even just well formed emails. Everybody has their own reasons for writing, but it is something that everybody wishes they could do well. This is not going to be an article to help you or to discuss anything, instead I am just going to write it as a blog post to talk about why I want to improve my writing ability.
Why I Want To Improve
I have written technical articles in the past, many people have commented on them and some are linked to on my articles page. That page however is very bare compared to what I was planning. I wanted to have loads of articles to help people learn as well as provoke discussion from those more experienced than I. The reason this has not happened is that I do not have enough confidence in my writing. Also, I think Twitter has made me so good at being concise that I go on a tangent whenever I write anything longer than 140 characters!
Another reason why I would like to improve my writing abilities right now is that I am in my first year of University. So it will not be long before I am needing to write very well written essays, if I do not improve then I will not be able to write my explanations as well, resulting in lower marks.
From a more business point of view, being able to write articles to be published in places that have a lot of readers would be very good for my web presence, which is important as a freelance website developer. I have tried writing an article for Smashing Magazine, but although I have a solid idea for the article, I cannot write it in a way that I would be willing for everyone to read.
As an aside, I would also quite like to improve my vocabulary. It is more elaborate than many already but I rarely know when to use the words without sounding pompous and also being able to make sure the article is accessible to most people. Also, I could do with improving my spelling!
What I Currently Do To Improve
I often attempt the Creative Copy Challenge, which I strongly recommend, but I can never think of something to write that makes sense and is interesting. Often I see the prompt words and just think of ways to string them together rather than a story that includes them.
Think. Yes I know it is bad, but I am constantly thinking of writing and then deciding not to. I could definitely improve there.
How I Would Like To Improve
Now I will admit to having an ulterior motive. The wonderful James Chartrand, has recently announced a competition for two people to join the Damn Fine Words writing course. This is a course I have been wanting to go on since it was released, but at $1,599 that has not been possible for me. Hopefully this post will show her that I would really benefit from the course and am worth giving the prize to.
Things Being Better At Writing Would Allow Me To Achieve