By Steve Maurer.
Yeah, I know. That’s not the most grammatically perfect headline you’ve ever read. In fact, I’m sure that my high school English teacher would be rolling her eyes and throwing her hands up in disbelief, thinking she’d taught me better. Bless her heart! Nevertheless, if you’ve read this far, then that horrid headline has done its primary job: getting your attention.
The three power tips in this article are not concerned so much with improving your writing skills as they are with refining your abilities as a writer. Confused yet? There are boatloads of resources out there to turn you into a perfect punctuationalist or a proficient grammaratician. Some are listed below.
However, this article doesn’t deal with syntax and structure, adverbial clauses, comma splices or even the dreaded dangling marsupial, uh, participle. These tips are meant to improve your confidence level as a writer and, consequently, to transform you into a better one.
The Power of Association
John Donne, the English clergyman and poet, wrote this about the human condition in his work, Meditation XVII:
No man is an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a part of the main. If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less . . .
The entire passage, written in 1624, tells of the interconnectedness of people, the idea that each of us has an integral part in the overall community that is humanity. Even you!
Heavy stuff, huh?
Interconnectedness spills over into the world of freelance writing as well. We aren’t monks sequestered away in our candlelit cubicles, slaving away with parchment, quill and ink, feverishly hand-crafting some obscure tome.
Unfortunately, many new writers feel that they must work alone, devoid of human contact, as they attempt to master their craft. Nothing could be further from the truth.
It’s time to get off the island, my friend.
Successful writers know that association with other writers is vital to growth. No one person knows it all, but we can all grow together by hanging out with others of our own ilk. In the classic 1937 book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill outlines the Master-Mind principle used by Andrew Carnegie.
In a nutshell, the melding of minds and sharing of ideas leads to an entity that is greater and more powerful than the individuals alone. Each person’s talents and knowledge contributes to the whole of the experience.
Man, heavy stuff again!
As a new writer, you should start associating with other writers. You can learn from both their successes and their challenges, get some counseling and ask them your burning questions. In fact, you’ll have a great opportunity to do that in a few minutes. At the end of this article there will be a place to make comments.
Many new writers never add a comment, often afraid of looking stupid or uninformed. Understand that the comments section is a safe haven in which to ask questions, request clarification and share your own experiences. Really, you need to write a comment! We need to hear from you!
Remember that you are a piece of the continent too.
I’d suggest that you become part of a writers’ group as well. Three that I belong to and recommend are:
- The Freelance Writers Den This a group geared toward helping freelancers perfect th Add a Comment