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Curious, how do you think a decade of journaling has made you a better writer? Most writing advice heavily features feedback, from peers, instructors, friends,
by majos 7y ago
Curious, how do you think a decade of journaling has made you a better writer? Most writing advice heavily features feedback, from peers, instructors, friends, editors, and so on. But journaling almost by definition prevents that. And it's not like hoisting jumpers in basketball -- you don't really know if you "made the shot" in writing, no? In the article's language, writing seems like a very wicked environment.
- hliyan 7y agoI don't know how to explain it, only that it worked. If I had to guess, I got feedback from my future self. I would often read my old journal entries, and notice errors and improvements that I would not have noticed at the time. That, I suppose, is how I know I've improved. I also read a lot, so each year I learn more about what good writing looks like and therefore have a progressively improving basis of comparison for my journal entries. Edit: I'm not a native speaker of English.
- RussianCow 7y agoNot the OP, but one of the hardest parts of writing (at least initially) is simply knowing how to take the thoughts in your head and put them into words. This is a skill that just takes practice, and improvements to it are fairly obvious even without external feedback—you become much faster and your writing starts to sound better and flow more smoothly. Source: Someone who struggled with writing and became better with practice. :) Edit: I just want to point out that getting better at "writing" in the broadest sense is very different than getting better at specific kinds of writing, like academic or journalistic, where particular patterns are important and much more difficult to self-teach.
- pdimitar 7y agoAll you say is 100% true, at least in my own experience as well. But none of that means you will be able to reach a certain audience. Although I have to say, I care very little about that. Good technical writing which is appreciated by my colleagues -- and being eloquent and expressive in casual conversations -- is good enough for me.
- icebraining 7y agoI think often you do know, because your taste is better than your abilities, just from reading other people's work. Knowing that you made the shot might be hard, but knowing that you definitively missed it often isn't. Relevant quote by Ira Glass: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/309485-nobody-tells-this-to-people-who-are-beginners-i-wish https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/309485-nobody-tells-this-to...
- Spooky23 7y agoEditors won’t help if you cannot get words on the page.