How to Have Fun Checking Your Writing

June 2nd, 2008          Email This Post        Print This Post

I always hated checking over my written work. If it wasn’t how long it took, it was simply that it takes time and effort. Why should I bother - I polished my sentences as I wrote them.
Today, my whole understanding of writing shattered. I wrote this article to explain a new way of thinking about it and ended up realizing a lot myself.
How I used to write: I have a topic (homework, essay…), and write out each sentence in full, with proper grammar. Perhaps some ideas/paragraphs would need to moved, but not much. Reviewing my work was a tedious process for catching mistakes.

Now, I write to convey my idea(s) as simply and clearly as possible.
(1) First, I need to have them clear myself! When I start writing, I would call it journaling, as a means of exploring the topic. I write out the ideas as quickly as they come, usually very short, poor word choice, and hardly grammatical because I am trying to keep up with my train of thought. This means when I have “finished” writing, I have a disorganized, non-grammatical, poorly worded block of text - hardly something I can share! Instead of trying to produce a finished piece, I gathered many ideas, usually discovered what the main points really are, attained some clarity, and often developed a new and very different understanding.
(2) I then start writing from scratch, using the new insight or main points as a foundation.
(3) The rest of the time I spend writing is trying to express the ideas more clearly, more succinctly, and with greater focus. I will go through the piece several times to make sure the main idea flows - all the while expanding for clarity and deleting to maintain the focus.

I used to write just to get the assignment done! Now, I am not writing for the finished product. I am first writing for myself - to get my ideas out on paper to organize and spur my creativity. I then write to convey the idea to other people with the utmost clarity. The time it took to write this just flew by!

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