Writing is my first love. I studied several subjects at university, including biology, music theory, and economic policy. While pursuing a career in each was tempting, I decided to become a writer in the end.
Several benefits come from practicing writing. It helps with learning and clarity in thinking, and can even improve your mood. There are many approaches to writing, and I would like to share a few of mine. Be sure to research additional methods and tools!
MY PROCESS
When I settled on English as my major at university, one of my required courses was a composition class that focused on the writing process. Common professors discussed in class included Patricia Bizzell, professor of English Emerita from College of the Holy Cross, and American journalist and English professor, the late Donald Murray. I encourage the more curious among you to research their works.
We were tasked with writing our process on the board and explaining it to our classmates on the first day. Unsure of my approach to writing at the time, I simply wrote "Just write" and explained how my process involves just writing out my thoughts and building around that.
I later recognized that a large part of my writing process involved having a precise title. If I could surmise in a few words what I wanted to convey, everything else would flow from there. In addition, if I ever got off track, the title would force me back on topic. This also greatly improved my ability to write good marketing copy.
I then came up with a mnemonic to help me remember what to do before final publication. It is "OS-PC," which reminds me of "operating system" and "personal computer" and makes it simple to remember my final writing process. The letters stand for "Omissions, Spelling, Punctuation, and Come Back Later." The idea is to re-read your text and look for omitted words (our brain will often tell us it sees articles and prepositions that are not there). Next, check for spelling and punctuation mistakes. Last, set the text aside, come back after it is out of your mind, and do the first three steps again. You may not catch every mistake, but this will help you greatly reduce them.
TOOLS AT YOUR DISPOSAL
A great boon to my writing has been a couple of tools that have become common. First is Grammarly, which, although it can give suggestions that do not make for the best style choices (such as heavy adverb use), still helps you catch basic mistakes.
The second is Hemingway Editor. This is an online tool that helps you keep your sentences concise with clear language. I give it high praise.
Check out these tools and consider using the above methods. With these, you can start your writing journey today.
Happy writing!
Myron