Uptight writer

This week three things that Creative Communications students were told to work on included:

1.     writing skills

2.     writing skills

3.     and writing skills

I think writing falls under the category of if you don’t use it, you lose it.

Blogging is a good way to exercise the writing muscle. One of the reasons I like it is because it’s conversational. I think a good blog post makes you feel as if the writer is talking to you.

When it comes to journalism, I have a tendency to write in a style that’s understandably more stiff and formal. But I was pleasantly surprised this week when our journalism instructor said, “Make people laugh. That’s good writing.”

Of course there are some things that just don’t fly when you’re writing about something serious. You need to adapt to the format and audience you’re writing for… after all, writing a research proposal is different than writing a restaurant review.

In terms of my IPP (see previous post), I’m going back and forth between doing something for radio or writing for print. I think I originally dismissed the idea of writing a book or a series of articles because I wasn’t thinking outside of the box--I was only coming up with “serious” topics to be written in a “serious” style. There’s certainly nothing wrong with that, but now my sights are set on something a little…. funnier. I have to remember to breathe when I write, or rather to let my writing breathe. Does that make sense? Probably not.

I think I’m going to put some other advice into practice too: write what you know.

More on the evolution of my IPP to follow….