Writing

There were a few years in my childhood when I had completely and unquestionably decided that I was going to be a very successful writer. And by writer I may have meant novelist. I can't quite remember. Everyone said I was a gifted writer and that I could be very successful in that field. I think they were incorrect. Vocabulary I had. Lots of it. But writing chops? I don't think so.

As you can tell, my etched-in-stone plans to take the literary world by storm have changed. While I love to communicate and to express and to talk and to explore words, the process of writing is not one that brings me great joy. Especially creative writing. Definitely not my strongest talent. Sure this blogging is enjoyable enough, but I mean writing-writing. Maybe this blogging is writing-writing (any thoughts from my English-major siblings?) but it doesn't seem that way to me.

Well, I've been side-tracked. Back to the point.

While writing-writing might not be my favorite hobby, there's a lot in store for me in college. I really want to do well. I want to succeed. I want to learn. I want to analyze. I want to effectively communicate my synthesis and analysis of the fruits of my learning. And that's going to take some good, polished, and confident writing. So my question is (yes this is an audience parti--I mean reader participation post), how does one become a good writer. The most common answer I've heard is just "write." Well I spent four years in high school doing a whole lot of that, and obviously it didn't work, else I'd be a good writer by now. The last time I really grew and improved as a writer was the two year period from eighth grade to ninth grade. I was blessed with two great teachers in a row--Ms. Baldwin and Mrs. Willshire--who really believed in me and encouraged me and taught me. I learned so much. But in the three academic years since, I believe I've only regressed.

Perhaps it has to do with poor teaching. Miss Horne was a fine teacher, but didn't focus much on writing. Mr. Mohney did not help me at all. Mrs. Willshire (roudn two) was a barrage of book after book after book after page after page after page after project after project after project with no time to really focus on becoming a good writer, though write write write we did did did.

Perhaps it comes as a result of my waning practice of pleasure reading.

Perhaps it's an almost inevitable result of the stealthy but pervasive emergence of the language of texting and instant messaging which threatens the health of proper english with every message sent.

Probably it's a combination of all three. But the specifics of my journey to the city of poor writing doesn't matter so much as how I can make the trek back the land of good writing.

So. Answer my question. How can I become a better writer. And not just a good writer, a great writer.

Thanks!
--Christian

P.S. On a completely different subject, I was shocked to find out that my sister Gabrielle, who grew up in the eighties, was unfamiliar with the classic song "Don't Stop Believin'." Maybe it's just the generational gap, but if you ask anyone my age for the quintessential song from the eighties, they'll choose "Don't Stop Believin'" without any hesitation. So here's a few videos of the song, first the original, and then two more recent rendition. Enjoy :-)