Five Cool Things about Writing
Read the lecture regarding how and why writing is important. Then choose one of the five items and do some writing that lays out examples that show how the idea expressed is true. What about this idea appeals to you? Discuss how this idea has created positive writing experiences for you, or if you haven't ever had very positive writing experiences, how it could make writing a more positive experience for you.
One thing writing can do is grant us a sort of immortality. What we say may be remembered, but when we write something down, our thoughts live on beyond the moment we think or speak them. Think about what we can learn about people who are sometimes long gone by reading letters and stories they wrote. Certainly now in a digital age, our words are even more likely to outlive us. And if you think about it, throughout human history, writing has been a primary mode of passing along culture and knowledge. It's a cool thought to imagine that, just maybe, something we have written will be a part of that process. In this sense, writing is really a type of immortality! Famous scientist and thinker Carl Sagan puts it this way:
What an astonishing thing a book is. It's a flat object made from a tree with flexible parts on which are imprinted lots of funny dark squiggles. But one glance at it and you're inside the mind of another person, maybe somebody dead for thousands of years. Across the millennia, an author is speaking clearly and silently inside your head, directly to you. Writing is perhaps the great of human inventions, binding together people who never knew each other, citizens of distant epochs. Books break the shackles of time. A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.
A second element I really like about writing is the fact that it helps with memory. The very physical act of writing helps to imprint ideas in our minds. For example, every time I go to the grocery, I write a list. Now sadly, I leave this list in the car or on my desk at least half the time. However, the great thing is that because I wrote down what I needed, even if I forget to bring the list, I will remember what I needed to get when I'm actually at the store. Because there is such a powerful connection between writing and memory, this book will place a heavy emphasis on note-taking not only when you are in class, but also when you read.
I also really love that writing can be revised (unlike speech). When you say something, it is out there. If it offended anyone or was incorrect, you can apologize, but you cannot really take it back. With writing, you get the chance to refine your thoughts and expression. You can read back through what you write before you post something online or message someone; you can go back through classroom notes to organize them or synthesize them with notes from what you read; and you can write multiple drafts before handing in an assignment or sending off a cover letter. There is something pretty neat about being able to improve what you have written and to not have your ideas "set in stone" the way they are when you speak them. With this idea in mind, there will be a strong emphasis on revision and the rewriting process in this book.
A fourth reason I really love writing is that once you learn how to avoid errors, there are about a million ways to get it right. Unlike a lot of other subjects (such as math or chemistry), where there is often a single correct answer or correct way to calculate a problem or do an experiment, there is no single right way to write. We could ask a dozen different professional writers to all write a page about the same topic and though they would all likely be effective pieces of writing, every single piece would be different. Certainly we see this all the time; for example, think of how different J.K Rowling's writing is from Stephen King's. What is particularly cool about this is that it means that once you get a handle on the rules and the stuff you need to avoid, you really get the freedom to develop your own style! Writing is your unique voice and so long as you avoid errors, you get to decide what way of saying something you like best.
A final reason I really love writing is that it is powerful. I'm not just talking about the innumerable published texts that have advanced ideas and shaped the world around us. I'm talking about personal power. For example, a well written cover letter and resume could land you the career of your dreams. Think about that – these are two little pieces of writing that can quite literally shape your future. Being able to effectively express our thoughts, ideas, and opinions is empowering. Knowing that we are able to use words in ways that benefit us is powerful and motivating knowledge.
Source: Erin Severs
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 License.