FollowRecently, I came across this article: 10 Simple Ways to Double the Speed of Your Writing I thought I would regard this article as a sort of additional guest speaker, as the writer covers similar tips to the folks we’ve heard in class so far, except that all those tips are more or less compiled in one place.
Anyway, as the title suggests, the article is about how to write faster, something I personally have problems with. I am the slowest. Writer. Ever. Most of the things the article says are bad to do, are things I do. After reading this article a few weeks ago, I was extremely motivated to take these tips to heart!
Of course, I sank back into my old ways, particularly due to the extreme stress I’ve been under lately to finish everything by graduation. My brain keeps telling me, “FACEBOOK. FAAAACEBOOK” when it should be creating and thinking. Regardless, there are some great tips in there that I’ll definitely implement…at some point…after finals are over…maybe.
What I’m figuring out is that there’s a difference between reading tips on how to become a better writer and really taking those tips to heart. For example, number 9: “Replicate the Zone.” I can think, okay, sure, I’ll do that, or I can actually sit down and do it. This statement may seem obvious, but I find that most of the time when I write, it’s with surface interest, there’s no actual attempt at trying to write better or more efficiently. Part of being a writer is trying to do well, instead of just mindlessly writing, which admittedly, is what I do a lot.
Even something as simple and obvious as this article, an article whose ideas have been reproduced in various forms possibly hundreds of times, can help, as long as I stay in the right mindset. I’m also incredibly thankful for the advice from all the guest speakers we’ve had this term. It’s been great learning how to write from people who already do it for a living. Sometimes I don’t feel prepared for the real world, but knowing I’m getting tips from individuals with real world experience results in a huge weight off my mind. This has honestly been one of the most useful classes I’ve taken at SOU, useful in the immediately practical sense, that is. I still consider taking tons of literature classes useful, but in a different way!
To wrap up, thank you all for your posts and input! It’s been good.
This is very funny because I’ve just joined Facebook to establish a page for this blog and am spending too much time there also.