Do you find writing a difficult subject? Is the idea in your head but when it comes time to writing it down, your mind goes blank and nothing can kick start your momentum? Maybe you can recall having a homework essay in school to do, and always putting it off. Or maybe when you are writing, you look over what you have just written and it doesn’t make sense in any context. Or it makes sense to you, but if you give it to someone else to check over they just do not seem to get the point you are trying to make. Or worse, a reader becomes bored and just doesn’t pay attention to what you have to say; their review is “I read it over, it looks fine”

I remember when I was in Primary school, aged 9. Every Thursday we were asked to write 10 short sentences, each containing a different word we had learned to spell during the week. These were not difficult words; I used them in every day speaking to my classmates, teachers and parents. However, when it came to conjuring sentences on paper containing these words, my mind just stopped. “What do I write? How do I begin? What story could I imagine that could possibly contain this word?”

I admit that writing is not one of my strong points. Not that that has really been a problem for me because my writing and communication skills were good enough to pass my maths and computing exams in school, in uni and then finally to get jobs in computer programming.

Unfortunately, beginning to write here has unearthed my ‘writer’s block’ of never being able to start what I mean to say. This is particularly painful when it comes to writing blogs, considering their key method of communication is by the written word. To address this I have decided to go back to a familiar question. “Why am I doing this?”

I want to make people happier by reading my blog. To do this I need to write so that readers will actually want to read and can understand my points clearly. I need to attune my writing skills to provide the ability to communicate. This will not only allow the articulation of my ideas in better form, but it would allow readers to more easily and enjoyably understand what it is I am trying to say (or write)

The key to being a good writer appears to be, as with most things, Practise, Practise, Practise! Seek out opportunities for writing and where it will be read and appreciated. For me, this site serves that purpose. Getting feedback on what you do is also very important; experts can have a better outside view of your work and can give more reliable feedback and help for those who wish to improve.
I also intend to look into writing classes online or at college. A quick google search has shown up lots of websites about how to write blogs and websites, it would just be a matter of time to find something that works for you.

If you have similar feelings about writing, the worst thing you can do is bury your head in the sand. There will always be times in your life, professional or otherwise, when your writing skills are required for use. Wouldn’t it be great if you could be prepared any time for writing without having to worry about your ability, being stuck what to write, or creating a piece that people just don’t want to read?

I ask that you give yourself a little review of your own writing skills. What have you done in the past? Did the reader (or in some cases, the customer) like it? Do you have any upcoming essays? What can you do to improve your skill and confidence in such undertakings?

Please let me know what you think by leaving a comment or email.

Following on from my previous post ‘The virtues of an early start’ I find myself on day 3. Getting back from work about 4:45 instead of 7:00, I find I have lots of energy left to do other things that I would otherwise never find the time to do.

With this in mind, I have set an aim for myself of writing 1 post every two days until I go on holiday to Hong Kong on April 8^th. This leaves me with 30 days from now, equating to 15 posts.

For me this seems like a huge commitment, considering that this is 5 times more than the amount of posts I’ve previously written!

The biggest difficulties I have considered are: Time and Content. Will I have enough time to spend writing one entry every two days for 30 days? And will I be able to write enough interesting content?

Time for me feels the biggest issue. By time I mean free time in which I feel fine to use my mind for creative output. By waking up early I have realised quite how much extra time there is now available to me. But how much of that time can I give to thinking and writing? There are always other things which need attending to; such as household chores, shopping, repairing the car and seeing friends and family.

Content is the other major issue. I have only written when I’ve had a particular burning desire to, so what if there are times when I just have no inclination to write about something?

Instead of just hoping for the best, I have decided to take actions to address these issues by asking myself a question. ‘Why am I doing this?’

The reason why I started a website is because I want to become happier person. I become happy by doing things which make me happy. The thought of making other people happy is something that makes me happy! A website would help me achieve this by allowing my views and content to be shared throughout the world. It will help me articulate and shape vague ideas I have floating about.

When it comes to ideas, I always have countless half-baked wonderings and plans just waiting to be realised into something. The trouble is of course that they either get forgotten in favor of ‘real life’ events such as work, or because I haven’t thought about them properly a clear articulation is impossible and never comes into existence.

By imposing this aim of writing an entry once every two days for 30 days, it will lead me into a practise of thinking, planning and writing; valuable communication skills which will not only benefit me but also the reader.