This is her blurb: eCollegeFinder, an established online education resource representing over 120 accredited online institutions, began hosting a series of Top Blogger Awards in early 2010. Our goal in hosting the awards is to enrich students while giving high-quality blogs the recognition they deserve. So if you like the sound of it, you can nominate someone.
She asked me to answer a question for her students so I flipped this off quickly then I thought I'd share it with my readers:
What advice can you offer students aiming to improve their writing acumen?
Having a long writing career, I found that the following help improve writing acumen -
- be inquisitive, be aware of what is going on around you
- always keep a journal or an electronic device handy to jot down story ideas or great descriptions you might read in a book or magazine. You can study these excellent words and phrases later and discover why they caught your eye. Then you can practise writing something even better!
- some say writing can't be taught. I disagree. Read every 'how to' book on your craft, attend creative writing seminars, take creative writing courses at an educational institution, but you must write, write, write. The best way to learn is to do, not just to keep learning about it. Do it!
- enter flash fiction competitions. I found writing flash fiction made the biggest difference to my writing. I learned to create a story then to cut it back to only what really mattered to tell the story. Flash fiction is usually under 1,000 words. The Romantic Friday Writers group I co-founded writes 400 words and under. There are some other online flash fiction challenges that write 100, or even 50 words and under. All great to improve your writing acumen.
- What do you think? What improves writing acumen in your opinion?
5 comments:
What improves it? Everything you say above, Denise. And it takes a lifetime!
Ann Best, Author of In the Mirror & Other Memoirs
Hi Denise...Britanny sent me an email telling me that my blog was selected as a Top Writing Blog Award Nominee. I was wondering about it when I came across your post.
I also got one of those emails!
I think your last point - entering flash fiction competitions - is a good one. It's certainly an excellent way to practise different types of writing. And all practise is good (I hope!).
Ooh, you actually did a blog post for it! I kinda like your new layout. Hope Blogger doesn't mess up for me... I'm already noticing that fonts and such are appearing differently on others' sites...
Good advice, thank you. I'm looking forward to following your blog. I've been searching around for another Australian blogger. Going off to read your other posts. Good luck with the award. :-)
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