How Can I Improve On My Writing?
By: Ryan Justin
Tags: Ideas, Practice, Writing, Reading, Productivity

‘Creating A Masterpiece’

How can I improve on my writing? Which is the best format, style and technique to use? Where can I get the ideas to write about?

These are just some of the questions I have asked myself as I embark upon my curious writing adventure.

I realize that perhaps I should have created this particular piece first, ahead of the previous two articles I recently produced, asked some of the above questions before jumping in and writing whatever was on my mind at the time. But I didn’t, so….

Where It Began

My interest in writing has only recently been triggered again, I do not know why and I do not know what it was that ignited that smoldering ember, but I’m here now, intrigued as to what will come of this recurring interest.

Writing first became of interest to myself in my school days, as I imagine was the case for the majority of people.

A rebel without a cause, the class clown, slouched in my seat at the front of the class (so as the teacher could see what I was up to), shirt hanging out, top button undone and tie in a loose knot all accompanied by a far away glaze in my eyes that signaled to the educator, ‘I am just not that interested in retaining the information that is being forced upon me.’

In my naive ‘know it all’ teenage brain, all teachers had nothing useful to say and they were saying it all too loud!

This was my opinion in each of my classes bar one, English.

Perhaps it was the 6’3, square shouldered, balding giant of a teacher who conduced the class that compelled me to straighten up, smarten up and pay attention. That and he was also the vice principle of the school.

Working our way through the various case studies of the school curriculum was when writing first engaged my curiosity.

A Quick Fix?

Jump forward a few years, 10 (and a bit) roughly, which brings us to present day, 2018. Besides the bare minimum at work or a social media post while under the influence, when we all become a deep and spiritual individual with the answers to all of life’s big questions, I have done next to nothing when it comes to writing, until now.

I have decided to write as often as I can or whenever there is a moment of silence at home, which isn’t a common occurrence with a boisterous 1-year-old running amok and a prepubescent 10-year-old moping around like a lost soul.

As a result of this decision, I have been eager to answer the questions previously mentioned and most commonly asked it seems: ‘How can I improve my writing?’ ‘Which is the best format, style and technique to use?’ ‘Where can I get the ideas to write about?’ to name a few.

It then occurred to me, everyone already knows the answers to these questions deep down, the real question that is being asked is: ‘I need a quick fix to becoming a successful writer, where can I find it?’

As I am a complete newbie to writing I am not going to say for certain that I know this answer, but I would hazard a guess and say, ‘There is no quick fix’

Solutions?

Through researching and on the quest to increase my knowledge on writing, I have come up with a few personal opinions on how to improve on my writing.

1. Practice — The only way to improve at anything, whether it be writing, sports, driving, you name it, is to practice. Repetition is the key. You will never master a task if you never perform the task, so get writing as often as possible, emails, social media posts, blogs will all contribute to increasing your writing capabilities. 2. Reading — Lately I have been paying closer attention to how pieces are written and formatted. By reading books, articles, blog posts, advertisements in magazines and newspapers, bill boards, anything were the creator/author of the content is trying to evoke an emotion I have not only been reading, but also thinking about why this has been put together in this particular style, what is the author trying to achieve, what can I learn from this etc. 3. Listening — This is the digital era and there is no shortage of podcasts, videos and audiobooks, to name a few, on almost any subject you could possibly think of. I have been listening to podcasts and interviews from professional writers on my daily commute, whilst I work and even as I drift of to sleep. The beauty of listening is it can be done on the move and be done whilst multitasking with the option to playback any thing you may have missed. 4. Online Courses — I haven’t looked to deeply into any of the online courses that are on offer as I believe there is more than enough free content to learn from for someone at my stage of their writing journey. 5. Where to get ideas — I have set up a Google Docs folder on my phone that I use to note ideas that I hear in my daily life. Perhaps I hear a certain subject mentioned on the radio that triggers an idea I could write about, I jot it down right there and then so as not to forget. There are ideas surrounding you every day, you just have to listen. Maybe you don’t wear your ear buds the next time you use the bus or train for example and just listen to what’s going around you, anything can set off a thought pattern in your mind and next thing you know you have 5 or 6 ideas to write about, give it a go.

The points listed above include some of the steps which I use when I wish to learn or improve at anything in life and I believe the same methods will be just as rewarding as I seek to improve on my own writing skills.

I would love to hear of any other methods you use to help increase your knowledge and skills when it comes to writing or anything that you have tried in the past that has been of immense value and help in moving you forward toward your writing goals.