I am happy to say I've gone to the gym three times now in the last 1 1/2 weeks but unfortunately I still haven't lost any weight. I know muscle weighs more than fat but I'm pretty sure I'm not replacing that much fat with muscle yet.
As I was working out the other morning I was thinking about my latest writing project and writing in general. I recalled something I have read several times both in connection to writing and to other things. The key to becoming good at anything is constant practice. Remember the old saying "practice makes perfect." Takes a lot of practice to be perfect but if you practice enough there is a hope you'll at least become good at whatever you are practicing.
When I'm exercising and pumping iron I won't get huge muscles on my first trip to the gym (and as it turns out I won't lose weight either because I went a couple of times). If I want to build my muscles I need to constantly be working out and breaking down the muscle that then grows into stronger muscles.
Another example, and I hope my wife won't be upset as she is the next example. Nearly 3 years ago Jessica decided she really wanted to do a triathlon. She found a coach and started training. She already was and is an exceptional athlete (if you doubt go to her high school and see her school records still posted on the wall after 10 years). Her first event was actually a duathlon (bike and run only). She did really well on the bike but the run was her weakest point. I don't recall the specific details but recall it was about 2-3 miles and it took her some time to run it as she ran and walked it.
She could have quit then but she persisted. She kept training. Her first triathlon was several months later in Orem, UT. She did a phenomenal job. She's since participated in at least 3 more triathlon's and just last week she did her first half-marathon. What was impressive is she ran the entire way without stopping once to walk. That is an accomplishment! She has 3-4 triathlons she's planning on doing this year. She's probably in the best shape she's been in since we've been married. She's happy, feels good, and looks great!
Writing is very much the same. We have to exercise our writing skills daily to make them stronger. What writing skills should we exercise? Here are some basic skills every writer should master.
1. Vocabulary - Stephen King says you don't need to have an extensive vocabulary to be a good writer. In fact, sometimes using words like discombobulated and preambulate (word of the day) can be replaced with simplier words like "shaken" or "stroll." A writer must understand the audience's level of understanding. The best place I have found for improving vocubulary is http://dictionary.reference.com/.
2. Grammar - If you want to fail fast as a writer then have poor grammar. As a writer it's important to know the difference between nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, etc. You'll want to study prepositions and conjections. I find myself, as even I am a new writer and still exercising my talents, going back to the basics when working on sentence structure. There are a lot of resources here. I read Strunk and White's well-known book called The Elements of Style. It provides the reader easy to understand rules and examples. You can choose if you want to follow those rules or not. As a new writer best to follow the rules first and then improvise later.
3. Punctuation - This commonly trips up new writers not knowing if they should use a comma or a colon or a semi-colon when combining sentences. Practicing these elements will improve your writing as you learn to break your sentences where a break needs to be. The Strunk and White book again provides some guidance on this topic. There are numerous other places too. Another website I've used in the past is http://www.grammarbook.com/default.asp.The only other advise I want to give in this already long blog posting is to read. Read often. Take a book wherever you go and you'll be surpised how much extra reading you can do. Also, look up audiobooks from your local library. Listening to audiobooks is a great way to exercise your talents as you'll learn what other successful authors are doing. I define successful has having a published book that you are reading or listening too. It doesn't mean the book is good and could have mistakes but as your exercise your skills you'll learn to find those errors and avoid them and also find the good and improve upon them.
Practice, practice, practice. There is no way to become a good writer if you don't practice writing every day.
No comments:
Post a Comment