How Did You Learn to Write?

I spoke with a woman who said she wants to be a published writer, but wasn’t sure how to go about it. She said she doesn’t feel she learned how to write creatively in school. What she learned was how to regurgitate research into book reports and essays. She asked me how I learned to write.

Thinking back on middle school and high school, I wasn’t given much opportunity to write creatively either. English was a class we were forced to take, and was rarely enjoyable. The only time I remember English being fun was when Ms. Hawkins gave us a poetry assignment. We had to compose at least ten poems and put them into folders with some kind of artwork.

I wrote short stories and poetry on my own, but didn’t share them with anyone. I thought my work was great, but decided to test it out. I took the aptitude test for the Institute of Children’s Literature (read my review of it and its sister company, Long Ridge Writers Group here), and enrolled in the short story course after I was accepted. I took a few more courses from the Institute of Children’s Literature as well as Long Ridge Writers Group. Those two companies taught me the most about writing through their personalized, one-on-one method of coursework.

I also took a few writing classes through our school district’s community education, mostly because they were inexpensive and because I liked the people who were teaching. In those classes, I also learned that there are many people who don’t know how to write, so sometimes Thursday nights were painful. However, my take-away was learning to give helpful critiques and feedback.

The other way I learned to write was through all the books on writing that are available. I read several each year, and am sharing reviews every week on my website, www.ReadableWriter.com.

We all have to start somewhere, and I was thrilled to share my learning experiences with someone else. The woman I spoke with is now looking into Long Ridge Writers Group because she likes the idea of working directly with a published author. She said she didn’t have the confidence to enroll in an online class yet, but would consider that option if she only had to share her work with the instructor. Hopefully I set her on a good path, and she’ll reach her goals.