What do people usually write about?

How do people decide what to write about? I think people write about what they read. If some people like to read horror books then they will write about horror books. Other people may like to read about romances so they will probably write about something romantic. 

I also think people write about what they like not just what they read. If you write about what you like it will always be true, but with your own little spin on things. To make any story your own you have to to put a spin on it. For example I like to play football and I have played since I was six years old. If I was to write a paper about football I would talk about all the great times I had on the field. I would not just talk about the rules of football.

Another bonus for writing about what you like is you will have more to say in your paper. People will not just be rambling on about something they have no clue about. People who write about what they like and what they know can always make a story unique in their own little way.In Stephen Kings book On Writing he says"Write about what you like, then imbue it with life and make it unique by blending in your own personal knowledge of life, friendship, relationships, and work" (King 161). Always remember to be unique and put your own little twist in what you write. No matter what you write about always feel confident about it.

Teaching to Write Shorter

In every writing class that I have ever taken we would always write 500-600 word papers all the time. What if we cut that paper in half, and took out all the sentences we just rambled on about. It would definitely be shorter and most likely be a better paper. First, because we are not making anything up. We are writing about what we know and not lying about anything. Secondly we will make less mistakes.

A teacher named Andy Selsberg has been teaching his students to write shorter for a couple of years now. Andy says as writers "We need to set our sights not lower, but shorter''. I definitely agree with what Andy is saying. If we keep our goals high, but practice writing shorter papers those 500-600 word papers will be much easier.

To become a better writer you have to always practice. By making what your writing shorter you are practing to become a great writer. To some people they may think that setting our sights shorter is like taking a shortcut. When you write shorter you are not hiding anything. You are writing about what you need to and nothing more. Just remeber a lot can be said with a little.

What does it take to become a good writer

In my last blog post I talked about how there is a difference between a good writer and a bad writer. Today I am going to talk about how to become a good writer because isn't that what we all want to be is a good writer. As we all know with anything you do you have to practice at it all the time to be good at it. When your practicing though don't just do it because you have to, do it because you want to.  Like Stephen king says in his book On Writing "practice is invaluable and should feel good, really not like practice at all".

Another tool to becoming a good writer is being honest about what your writing. When you are honest about what you write you will have more to talk about. If you like playing baseball and know everything about it write about it. I guarantee you that you can talk more about baseball than, what do you think about the Alabama school systems. You can always add your own twist to what ever you are writing as long as you are being honest about it.

When writing there is no need to be conservative so be bold and take chances. At the same time though make sure you feel absolutely confident about what you have written. You can't please everyone with what you write, but you need to try and please some people. In Stephen Kings book On Writing he says "Try anything you want boringly normal or outrageous. If it works fine. If it doesn't toss it". To me he is saying take chances and see if they work, but if they don't take them out of your paper. So what does it take to become a good writer? First you have to practice all the time. Second be honest about what you are writing at all times. Lastly take chances but first make sure they fit in what you are writing.

There is such a thing as Good and Bad writers

In writing there is such a thing as good and bad writers. The category I would fall under is a bad writer. I know as you read this you think this person has no confidence, but I am just being honest. In the book On writing by Stephen King he says that you can become a good writer or even a great writer with hard work, dedication, and timely help. I mean how did the people we all call great writers become great writers. They worked hard at it, and I am sure somewhere down the road someone helped them become the writer they knew they could become.

In Stephen Kings book On Writing he says there is two things to become a better writer, read a lot and write a lot. This goes back to the hard work and dedication we were talking about in the last paragraph. If you do not read and write a lot you will just stay the writer you already are. The reason you read to become a better writer is to measure yourself up against other writers to see where you stand. You may also find your self adopting a style of writing that you find exciting.

To become a good writer not only do you have to find the time, but also the joy to become a good writer. Do not just write because you have to. Find a way that makes writing fun to you.Once you do this you will work harder and see the many improvements you have made. Writing is just like a sport.  If you love to play baseball you will hit off the tee for hours to improve your swing. The same goes for writing, if you want to become a better writer you first have to find the joy to write and practice at it. So find the joy to write and become a great writer not just a good writer.

Writing about what you Know

Over the many years that I have been writing I can not remember the last time I wrote about something I knew. In my opinion if you write about something you know, you will have more knowledge to write a great paper. I will not be lying about what I am writing, and sitting there all day thinking about what to write. In stephen Kings book On Writing he says ''If your plumber write about plumbing''. I mean you can write more than just about plumbing. The plumber could write about trying out for a professional baseball team, but the whole time he is still a plumber talking about his life up till he tries out for the team.

If I was to choose something to write about it would be about football. I know everything there is to know about football. So I would not be lying about anything in my story. I would also put my own twist in my story about football. I would not just write about the rules. I would write about the friendships I gained in football, or the close games I played in that were so much fun.

In Stephen Kings book On Writing he talks about John Grisham's breakout novel, The firm. The story talks about a young lawyer who ends up working for the mafia. My point is that John Grisham wrote a story about a lawyer and he knew about lawyers. H was not lying about anything in his story he just put his only little twist on it.

The Challenges of Writing

When I write I face many challenges. I believe you have to face challenges in writing so you can become a better writer. Some of the challenges I face are I have to many run-on sentences, I do not put the comma in the right spot, or I do not use the right grammar. When I am writing I want to notice that I  am overcoming these challenges. The only way to overcome these challenges is to just keep writing.

One challenge I find hard in writing is learning the different ways to write. The way you have to change your mood when you are talking to a certain audience. Another challenge is vocabulary. I do not have the best use of vocabulary so When I write I just keep it short and sweet. Stephen King talks about Vocabulary in his book On Writing. He says to become a better writer you have to put Vocabulary on the top shelf of your toolbox. I guess thats a way to overcome the challenge of vocabulary put it on the top shelf of my writing toolbox.

To me to become better writers we have to face our challenges. Put your challenges in a toolbox and have them in differnt shelfs. I would put vocabulary on my first shelf and work down from there. Also face your challenges as a writer and you probably become a better writer.

As a writer I do not feel very confident. I have always felt that sometimes I do not have a purpose to write, so I do not put as much into my writing as I should. Over the years I have tried to learn ways to become a better writer, but I know have a ways to go. I want to be able to feel confident about writing, and not think I am a bad writer. When people read my papers I want them to think I actually cared about what I was writing. Over the years I have had many classes that I have helped me feel more confident in my writing, but I want to get to the point where I am not making any mistakes in my papers. To me writing is the most important thing you can learn as a student. When you go out into the real world writing is the most important thing you need to know. Every job you will ever have will require you to write. That's why as a student I want to learn as much about writing as I can. In the past I have had a bad attitude towards writing because I have always been told my writing is not that good. I know now that I am a little older that if you have bad attitude towards writing then the worse your writing is going to be. From now on as a writer I want to always have a purpose to write, and express the way I feel about certain things in my writing. I want to change the way I have always thought about writing. I have always kinda thought it was pointless. Until last semester when I finally figured out how important writing actually was. It was not just writing but learning to write the way you should. Feeling you have a purpose to write, and no matter what anyone says about your writing you feel confident in it. I learned last semester that I could write with purpose. There was papers I would make errors on, but that can always be fixed with practice. There is so much I want to learn this semester about writing. I want to be able express my self more and give more detail in my writing. Overall I just want to become a better writer.