What kind of writer are you?
Have you ever pondered what it is that makes your writing style unique? What are the habits and attributes that are attached to your writing that make it so intriguing? I’ve been thinking about it over the past couple of days quite deeply. In deciding what kind of blog I was going to create (inspiration and feel good vibes are the way to go!!) I had to choose what kind of writing style I was going to maintain throughout my blog posts. It goes without saying that my style and mannerisms will develop and transform as time continues and I gain more experience with the writing process, but in the endeavor of deciding what direction I wanted to take my vision, I uncovered some interesting things. In particular, I like getting down to the facts quickly and succinctly, yet I also like artistic writing that makes what you’re saying look good. Rhetoric and diction are critical in being able to say things with precision. I’ve covered a couple of habits that I have which help (or hamper) my message clarity and entertainment in this post and attempt to analyze if they are good or bad. I’d say life is a giant balancing act and you must be careful not to be superfluous (COOL WORD! :)) in your application of any one strategy. Below you’ll find just a couple of tendencies I notice in my own writing. Let’s dive in!
I have a jumping around/sporadic writing style. I frequently start new paragraphs/sentences/topics. Is this good or bad? Does anyone else do this? Does this mimic other areas of my life?
BAD – I would like to conjecture that it mirrors the style I live my life in. Admittedly my room is a pigsty, I have a million receipts in my drawers, my bathroom is a mess, files on my computer are scattered, my car is exceptionally dirty, and I leave dishes around. I believe this trait has some correlation with getting distracted and losing focus easily. My memory is used up trying to remember where I place my keys and I’m horrendous with keeping schedules and commitments.
Lack of focus is probably one of the most notable problems with people these days. Many children are diagnosed with A.D.D., employees are unable to sit at a desk all day and work, and many times it’s very hard for blog writers to even get a full blog post out in one sitting. (During the past 2 sentences alone I have clicked out to other tabs about 4 times. RIDICULOUS) We’ve seriously become addicted to the ping, ding, beep and bzzzt of new alerts. Dopamine anybody? I suppose that is another topic entirely though.
GOOD – In spite of the bad, might there be a silver lining? Does it allow me to connect thoughts more easily? I am able to brainstorm fairly quickly and I can think about topics and subjects to write about quite rapidly. I have an innate ability to keep things fresh by forcing myself to do something that interests me as often as I am able. I have a good habit of letting random thoughts hit the page first and then organizing afterwords. In this way I believe I perceive myself as a thinker before a speaker. Most times I like to keep my mouth shut and listen to others because I don’t want to just go blabbering off in the way that my mental faculties are functioning under this calm facade.
I have a tendency to try to be a perfectionist and use big vocabulary.
BAD – I like to make sure my writing is perfect. (luckily not OCD status, but it’s still there!) I like to give my rough, pencil outline-like ideas, the absolute best coloring and flavor I possibly can. Unfortunately I have a mind that doesn’t spit out the best possible solution on the first go around, at least not every time. The fact that I spend countless hours on minutia such as word selection and flow of a work of writing, have severe negative effects on my productivity. I’ve often heard details cost you money. I think in some cases I need to throw them out the window. Others, they have flown out the window and I’m making a U-Turn to go find them scattered all over the road!!
GOOD – The more colorful the writing, the more thoroughly I enjoy it. Probably because I am writing it and I like to give myself a pat on the back!! Seriously though, reading others’ writing that looks good is such a treat! Because there is such a dearth of exciting and creative verbiage that is used today in everyday communications and I love learning new words. Take this as a challenge: USE BIGGER WORDS! They are fun, and as I have heard, the more ways you are able to describe something, the more power you have to communicate to different audiences. This allows for increased effectiveness in everything you do in life. I dislike the thinking that if people use big words, they think they are better than others. I yearn for my friends to push me to my limits and cause me to grow more than I am comfortable with. The sooner we get comfortable with getting uncomfortable, the better off we will be!
I like to argue with myself and use a pro/con, good/bad, evidence/counter-evidence style of writing.
BAD – While viewing both sides of the argument is great, the ability to pour ourselves into one viewpoint with the largest quantity of gusto, emotion, and heart possible is the way to truly inspire ourselves and others. I have a problem with putting my absolute all into something. I always feel like I have reserve passion just waiting to be used at my command. I WANT to use it, and I know I should be at every chance I can, but I’m not. The question is, how do I access and activate this power at will? Could it be enthusiasm? There is a switch somewhere that can control this ability or something? Maybe I do have control of it? It probably just takes some practice to get better at. I will find and become an activator of the “100% FULL GO MODE” soon! When I do, it’s over! I will have practically harnessed the power of the sun!
GOOD – I am able to objectively view both sides of the argument every time I look at a problem. Unfortunately, this applies to writing 99% of the time and life 1% (read: I can be hot-headed and like things my way (just kidding :p)). But with writing I am able to compose my thoughts and allow them to manifest themselves into the near perfect form I want them to be! This indeed takes time. We all want to be considered a fair judge of character, morals, ourselves, activities, friends, etc.
I wonder how judgement of writing comes in to play for many people and how it links to the rest of their lives!
Leave your comments below on how you express yourself to the utmost! Feel free to tell us some of your useful or not so useful tendencies!
Reclaim Time 