Tips for Successful Writing

To start off, I am not a very good writer. I am able to write very inspirational things and be very strong with my words, but sometimes i mess up on positioning the words or punctuation wrong. So i believe that critical punctuation and word usage, proof reading, and interesting facts are the three tips to successful writing.

Punctuation can make or break a sentence. If some form of punctuation is used wrong, the story may not make sense or have good meaning. Also, using strong words like transition words definitely helps to make an essay more interesting. It is critical for one to use words that will keep the readers attention on the story and want to continue writing. Now this kind of usage takes time and practice to know how to use different words and punctuation correctly.

All stories may need some changes every time you read it. You may want to change something after it is already published. Proof reading is very helpful to help you find any mistakes you may have in a story. If you just type a story and publish it without proof reading, you may leave many mistakes or find that a phrase does not fit together within the story. So it is very peculiar to proof read before publishing a story of any sort.

Keeping your readers attention is very helpful. Interesting and eye catching words or phrases will help to keep the reader wanting to continue reading the essay. If you use boring words that have been used so many times, the reader might get bored of the story and not want to finish the rest of it. Now if you use some words that are not used often and very well used within the story, you may obtain the readers attention until the end of the essay. So unoriginal words may in fact help to spice up your story to keep the reader wanting to read more.

Now, my weakness in writing is one that I mentioned earlier. I am not so good at knowing when or how to place some of my phrases or punctuation. I can write with very descriptive words but sometimes I am told that they are not placed correctly or do not make sense wherever i put them. Also, punctuation hurts my writing. I sometimes have run on sentences but without knowing this. I may thing that a sentence sounds right but when i have someone else read it for me or grade it, they point out my mistakes. So I know for the next time that I write, I need to be aware of what punctuation to use.

Moving on to my strengths in writing. I can be a very inspirational writer. I use many descriptive words that show my emotions towards a supject and tell how I felt during certain situations.I love writing and I feel that I am very strong on certain promts that I know I have great interest in. I can't wait to show how my writing is when we do our first real promt.

Rules of the Road

Writing is definitely something that takes time to master. I believe that mastering writing is like mastering a sport, it takes practice. Learning all of the rules takes years. In my opinion the three most important rules to good writing are sentence structure, keeping it interesting, and proof reading.

Sentence structure is important because if an article has run-ons or choppy sentences it makes it difficult for the reader to comprehend. When I am reading something i want it to flow well and be easy to read. If the sentences are not written correctly it can throw off the readers and make them stop reading the article all together. I like to read things that flow well because it makes it more fun and it makes me want to continue reading.

Keeping your composition interesting is another important rule of good writing. This not only means writing something to entertain readers, but to use different techniques that readers are not used to seeing. After reading the extremely descriptive articles by Rick Reilly I learned that breaking rules is sometimes better for your piece, as long as you do it at the right time, of course. Writing about what readers can relate to is another way to keep your piece interesting. Most people my age do not want to read about something that happened hundreds of years ago on the other side of the world, so write about current things if you can to keep readers' attention.

The third most important rule of good writing, and i can not stress this enough, is proof reading. Take the extra ten or fifteen minutes to make sure there are no grammatical mistakes, spelling errors, and make sure your writing makes sense. Why wouldn't you take the extra few minutes to ensure your piece is as good as it can possibly be? It makes your story too difficult to read and personally, I would stop reading it. I know after you finish writing your article you just want to be done and not look at it again, I am the same way. Have a parent or friend proof read your paper for you. After all the hard work put into it, do not lose points over stupid things like spelling mistakes.


My strengths in writing are my organization and sentence structure. I understand how to order paragraphs from least important to most important, and I think I do it fairly well. It helps me to sit down and plan my writing first before starting the actual paper. Sentence structure is also a strength of mine, in my opinion. I do not like to have a lot of choppy sentences, and I make sure my writing is easy for people to read and understand.

Even though I stressed the importance of proof reading, it is one of my weaknesses. After i finish writing the last thing i want to do is read my paper again. I completely understand the importance of it, it is just pure laziness. I usually just throw it to the side and be done with it, even though i know the importance. I need to get into the habit of proof reading when I am finished so it becomes a second nature. Another weakness of mine is comma placement. This, it seems, has been something I have always struggled with. I like put commas after everything, but I am starting to learn that sometimes sentences flow just as well without them.

The Road to Sucessful Writing

To tell you the truth I'm not the best writer, and I openly admit that. So when I decided to start to write this post, I had no idea what the three most important writing tips would be... Thus I started to look around. After a little bit of research on my part, I came up with the following three focus points:

(1) Sticking with the topic
(2) Making every word count
(3) Showing (instead of just telling)

First of all, sticking with the topic of a paper or story happens to be a very important part of writing that too many people seem to forget. If you stray off subject or add unnecessary and drawn out information, your reader is very likely to get extremely bored with your precious work. Thus, stay on subject! This is one of the most important aspects of writing because if your reader is unable to even get through the 2nd paragraph of your paper, then what does it matter that your using too many being verbs? One way to stay on subject is to know where you’re going. To do this, you can create an outline before hand. I always create outlines, and believe me... it works.

Next, this is one is iffy and I’m not sure if it would be placed in the top three (tell me what you think!), but I will include it anyways. In writing, every single word that you put on paper (or your computer screen for that matter) counts. Realizing this, applying it, and actually making every word count, is a step that a great deal of people tend to struggle with. Cutting something too short and not saying it right is just as bad as dragging something out with lengthy words and fancy sentences. I really don't think I can explain to you how to make every word count, because you need to find this part yourself. In my opinion, this is where style comes in. Good Luck finding your own! (I need it the most!)

Finally, the more I think about it... The more this one seems to excel in importunacy. When I did some research on showing action instead of just telling it, I came across the awful sect of being verbs. This train of thought soon led me to my 7th grade English class. For our research papers for this wonderful class, we had to revise our papers until every single being verb was out. This method of grading caused the smartest kid in the class to receive back a first draft with a big fat "D" printed in think red marker. (Like that showing?" (: ) So, think about this, being verbs (am, is, are, be, and all of your other favorites) =telling and on the contrary, action verbs (verbs that show action of someone/something)= showing. Apply this method and you'll make your paper a BIT more interesting, trust me (or Mr. Ruggieri!).

Ok, strengths and weaknesses... Now here's a toughie. I have absolutely NO idea. I feel like weaknesses of mine are my somewhat choppy sentences misusing my commas. But beyond that, I had too many to list I think, and I don't even know what they are. Hopefully through this class I will discover some of these weaknesses, pinpoint them, and improve them. As for strengths, I think I have a little bit of style. I don't know if this style is actually style or just a little humor as I write, but I like to think I can keep people reading. What do you think?

p.s. I’m not counting, this HAS to be >250

Successful Techniques for Writing

Writing is the act of using creativity to express your thoughts and feelings on certain articles. There are a lot of techniques involved in making your writing unique and interesting. Many writers obtain bad habits easily and although they are not as simple to break as we think, they can be fixed. Of course there are several important rules that come to mind when thinking about the regulations to writing well. However, there are three rules that stick out to me the most. One of the rules that I feel makes or breaks the paper is certainly the grammar of the paper. If I am reading an article or anything of that type and the grammar is terrible it makes the prospective of the paper change. For example, if the article was talking about something of importance such as the upcoming election and it had all types of grammatical errors many people including myself would not take the article seriously. Another significant rule that comes to mind is for the writer to not skip around with the subjects that they are talking about. If you are reading something that skips from one thing to another it becomes hard for the reader to follow and in some cases it makes the reader not want to even read it. Lastly, the next critical rule is to make the material that you are writing interesting for the writers. Have you ever read something that made you want to fall asleep? I have and it is not exactly something too many people want to read. Making your material interesting and attention grabbing is essential. If it can keep the reader’s attention then your material has been a success.

Writing has always been something I haven’t been as strong at as I would like to be. I think that some of my strengths in writing are that I can be pretty creative with what I write about and for the most part keep the reader’s attention. As for my weaknesses there are many I’m sure, but one of my worst weaknesses in writing is my grammatical errors. I unfortunately make a lot of them that I do not catch which is something that I would like eventually improve on. Therefore as a writer there are more things that I need to improve on to make my writing better and more efficient.

Three Pillars of Great Writing

There are thousands of rules you can follow to be a good writer, but what does it take to be a great writer? A great writer focuses mainly on these three things: precision, organization, and variety. Writing is not a simple activity, no matter what method you choose to use. However, these three principal aspects of writing work together to create a natural flow, which will enable you to express your thoughts to your satisfaction.

Precision in writing is the ability to express exactly what you mean. It is important to convey each idea in its purest form, via the most precise language possible. Be neither so specific as to miss the big picture, nor so broad that significant details are ignored. Don’t assume too often that the reader will pick up on what you’re saying without a full, detailed explanation. Sometimes the extra information is redundant, but sometimes it is integral to the audience’s understanding. If you are going for a particular effect on the audience, you need to always, always keep the audience’s perspective in mind. Do not be only a writer, but also a thorough critic of your own writing. If it was someone else’s work, would it make sense to you? Or would it make sense only if you fill in some blanks?

The only way it is possible to write precisely is if you are writing *passionately.* Admit it: if you’re not having fun, your writing will be ordinary, dull, and pointedly imprecise. It will lack the quality of which you are capable. In short, it will suck. Your words reflect the tone of your thoughts, so if your main thought is of getting it over with and doing something else, the quality of your writing will suffer. Do you think, for instance, that Henry David Thoreau created Walden when he wasn’t really in the mood to write? Of course not, and that’s one of the main reasons why it appealed – and, to this day, still appeals – to so many readers. Thoreau offered the essence of his “spirit,” if you will, through passionate writing about nature and life in general, not through a misguided sense of duty or obligation.

If it helps, pretend that you are on your deathbed, speaking your last words. The last should be as good as the first, and as good as everything between, should they not? Give them strength. Give them meaning. Make them matter. Express it exactly as you feel it, with the clarity and precision of a man/woman who knows that these are the words worthy of summing up years of human experience – the joy, the pain, and every shade of gray. In every human mind, there is a core of unique intellectual and emotional understandings. Let your voice do justice to that core.

Good organization, another pillar on which a great writer stands, is all about connecting your ideas like the links of a chain. Your writing will sound best if it flows collectively as one long, logical train of thought, like a good piece of music, not as a disjointed series of vaguely related subjects. Forget what any teacher has told you about formal “transitions.” If you’re adding a transition merely because you don’t know any other way to introduce your next point, you are losing your natural flow, and you probably won’t be satisfied with that piece of writing as a whole. Instead of thinking about what “has” to come next, think about what you want to come next. If you can’t find any way to reach that second point without including a bland transition, think of a new point to add in between, which will connect the first and second major points. Or, change the second point entirely to something that you find more suitable and enjoyable. The point is to have fun explaining something that matters to you, not to torture yourself with standard formats that are incompatible with your personal style.

If you’re writing formally, there should be one central idea, and this idea should be reflected in some manner in every sentence. But when it comes to informal writing, you can go ahead and fly off on any tangent you please. This helps when you are forming any significant idea at all, regardless of whether it will ever develop into a full-blown essay, research paper, or the like. It also helps when you are planning formal writing. This “informal writing” is also known as stream of consciousness writing (here is a site that describes the uses of this style of writing, makes suggestions on how you might carry out this process, and clears up some of the initial confusions that a person who has never written in this style might have, and all in a concise manner: http://www.essortment.com/all/streamconscious_rbwd.htm ). In order to reach an important idea, some spontaneous exploration is necessary. Any mundane thought can be transformed into something deeper, something worth writing about.

Variety, the third and final of the three most important aspects of writing, is the opposite of monotony. If you use the same adjectives, verbs, sentence structures, etc. repeatedly, you are a monotonous writer. On the other hand, if you constantly make an effort to use the words that sound best and most appropriate to you, not just any old words that happen to convey the general (not the specific) meaning that you wish to communicate, you are on your way to becoming a better writer. In order to expand your knowledge of and access to various words and writing structures, you need to be an avid reader. You can read almost anything and encounter new words, connotations, stylistic approaches, and much more. When you read, you are picking up the tools that you will use in your own writing. Variety for variety’s sake can be harmful to your writing (replacing a common word with a more sophisticated one, despite being unaware of the connotations and exact definition of that more sophisticated term), but if you learn to integrate these various words, techniques, etc. in the appropriate manner, your writing will improve drastically.

My strengths in writing are, in short, all of the above. When I follow my own rules, I write well. I try to explain myself clearly, piece everything together with grace and logic, and include various styles (that last is not always done in a single piece of writing, but often in a series of writings, each with its own style). My weaknesses, in general, are the failure to live up to these standards at certain times, by falling short of a full, clear explanation where one is required; by attaching one idea to another without making it clear what the correlation is, why I am moving in that direction, or what my purpose is in a broader sense; and by using common, mundane words, sentence structures, or styles when I am capable of finding something more creative and meaningful to take their place. Grammar is not a great problem for me, but I do sometimes make mistakes (whether they are due to an ignorance of the correct way of expressing something, or merely to writing/typing too quickly).

Rules of the Road

Writing is a craft that can take some time to perfect. There are three really important rules to writing well. The first major rule is having good sentence structures and being grammatically correct. Proof reading and making everything flow is important in writing. If there are several sentence, spelling, and grammar problems, no one will take your writing seriously. The second important rule is to have everything planned out and flowed. In stories and essays, the whole composition needs to be put together well. Everything needs to be part of a similar topic. If a story or essay goes off of the subject, the reader could get confused or loose interest. That is why planning helps organize a person's thoughts, and that person can write well. The final most important rule to writing well is to be creative. Readers can get bored if they read the same words. An important rule in being creative is to use a number of adjectives and words. Repeating adjectives or subjects the whole time could be boring. Using a varying number of words or a creative plot can catch the interest of readers more.
I am definitely not the best writer ever. I do have several weaknesses that I have to work on, but I do have some strengths. I do have problems sometimes with my understanding of sentence structures. I also have some grammatical errors in my writing. I occasionally repeat the same adjectives or words too often in my writing. I do have some strengths, which include my creativity. I believe that my vocabulary use is improving as well as my knowledge of new words. I think that I am much improved in the planning aspect of writing. I am getting better with my use of supporting details in essays. I can always be more improved with my imagery, but that is a work in progress.

Welcome!

Welcome, welcome, welcome. This assignment format is most likely unlike any other you have had before, but is on the cutting edge. That means, when you get to college, you'll be one step ahead of your peers.

Here is your chance to be you. It is a chance to experience reading different writing styles, experiment writing with different styles, and a chance to show your classmates how you express yourself with the written word. Weekly, I will present the class with a prompt that you will be required to not only respond to in writing, but also respond to a classmate's blog entry as well. Here are the requirements, also outlined on the class website-- ruggieri.teach-nology.com

1. Blog assignments will be posted by Wednesday each week on this website. To recieve full credit for the assignment you must first answer the prompt in at least 250 words. During the second quarter, blogs will be every other week, but double the length.

2. Also, within the week, you should try to read as many of the posts from your classmates as possible. At the minimum, however, you must read and respond to at least TWO of your classmates, totaling 50 words or more.

3. The grading rubric for this assignment is on the class website.

Notice how you can change the letter size, color, and even add pictures (if you read up on how to do it. By the way, that's my son working on his blog homework. Yeah, four months old and he's doing it, so please, no excuses. ;-)).

You can also spell check, so at least give us all the dignity of a slight clean-up. Spell check doesn't catch everything, but it's a start.
You begin this process by clicking on the "posting"tab, then click on "create." When you are finished, click "publish post" at the bottom.
When you want to respond to someone when reading the responses on the site, just click on the "comment" hyperlink after their response and your editing page will pop up. If you didn't log in, it will prompt you to do that first.
If you are struggling from home, email questions to me at home.
Can't wait to read and respond to some of the posts. Remember, the more serious you take this, the better writer you will become. There is no substitute for practice!