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