From time to time, I share articles from around the web -- articles about books, reading, and writing -- that I found insightful, useful, and inspiring. I hope you benefit from it, too. :)
The other day, I was browsing through my Twitter feed and I saw a tweet that says something along the lines of "why you should write anywhere & everywhere", something like that. I clicked on the link and I found this article.
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7 Things I've Learned So Far, by Carolyn Marsden[/caption]The other thing I love as much as reading is writing. When I was starting school, I was one of the fast readers in our class. I also like to think that I write well, literally (a lot of people say I have good handwriting) and figuratively. And both tasks are enjoyable for me. But writing is a bit harder and it takes a lot more effort and time to do it successfully.
Carolyn Marsden, author of The White Zone, shares 7 things she learned along her writing journey:
- Participate in other art forms.
- Work with others.
- Find/create a nourishing critique group.
- Write anywhere and everywhere.
- Write child-sized stories.
- Work hard!
- Read authors who take your breath away.
All seven tips are important. But my favorites are 4 & 6. They're spot on and very applicable in any endeavor, any industry. Marsden says that if you want to be a writer, "don't wait for the muse to strike." Since writing is an art form, it's easy to blame our lack of output to writer's block and lack of inspiration. But like anything else, writing takes work, and for some, it is work. And the only way to be better at it is through practice, practice, and more practice. That lessens writer's block along the way, too.
This article remind us, bloggers and aspiring writers, to strive harder to improve our craft. And we need that reminder every day. I know I do.
Which tip do you appreciate the most? :)
This one is helpful. I do a lot of No. 4. I think you just don't know when an idea pops so I do a lot of writing to record them all. We write because our ideas and stories are meant to be shared. If we don't, parang overflowing na gatas yung ideas galing sa utak natin. sayang naman.. hehe
ReplyDeleteI try to give myself some time to read at least twice a week! With school being hectic plus my want to read more, I rarely get to write more than 500 words/week. D: I would definitely want to do more of #4. :)
ReplyDeleteI really like you theme Joy, love the colors scheme! :)
ReplyDeleteI like #2, #4 and #7 most of all. I think there's much to learn with other people, that's why I love having co-bloggers. I also don't do #4 often but I'm thinking I should take notes on my phone so I won't lose ideas when it just suddenly pops in my head. #7 is a given though :D
Thanks, Amir! :) You are right about taking notes. I use Evernote to take notes, especially while reading a book and I used those notes for my reviews. :)
ReplyDeleteAhhh, school. It's hard to balance things when you're still in school but even more so when you're already working. I had a lot of downtime during my last year in college and I keep thinking now why I didn't use those times to blog or write more. But never too late, right? :)
ReplyDeleteTama! And at first puro random ideas lang. And then you combine everything and you come up with something good. In my case it's very therapeutic.
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