How much do you write for 1) your career and 2) spare time?
 

Writing is a serious chore for me when it's a topic I'm not exploring for fun. But, my future career will require my writing all the time. And, unfortunately, I'm not too good at it.

In my spare time, I write occasionally. Mostly here or on another site. I do not write poetry, letters, or books in my spare time, but I do like the idea of doing so.

Zero. To many words.

I like writing short stories.

Write a lot of test reports for work in addition to emails, statuses, test plans, etc.

Currently, also have to write for certain courses in school and then I sparingly write as a form of expression/outlet.

And yet...not quite enough letters.

Zero, unless you count emails.

Kind of funny, I talk about writing for 10 or 15 years, and the only thing I don't ever do is write.

I still wish I could find the self discipline to do it.

I write lots and lots and lots for work. Lots. Like, a whole lot.

I really like writing for pleasure, but right now I'm writed out. It's not that much fun for me to go home and do for another three hours what I just did for ten, and that's kind of sad.

What do you mean, "write"?

I do a hell of a lot of jotting, not a lot of prose being produced.

Here's one I wrote recently:

Roses are Red, Violets are Blue

Post something stupid again, and I will destroy you.

Whatdoyathink?

It kinda hurt my feelings.

Let's try this again (leafing through my book of prose......) Oh, here's one, short, but poignant:

GO ***** YOURSELF!

Better?

I enjoy writing poetry, but only on Chiefsplanet.

Roses are red
Violets are blue
Jenson's a limp-wristed priss
and eats his own poo

I once new a man from nantucket
Whose dick was so long he could suck it
His name was not laz,
Or phobia or fraz-



I think like all good marriages, sexual encounters and gochiefs craigslist dates, things should end abruptly and unresolved.

I just turned in about 250 pages (maybe half of those were my own work, and the rest were forms, photocopies of student work, and such) that I'd been working on this year for my National Boards. That was a lot of writing.

I have to write quite a bit (including emails), and it's fine. The main thing I dislike is that writing at work tends to waste my writing "energy," so I don't do as much writing for fun.

As for being a "good" writer, here's what I know as a writing instructor: as you write for your profession, you'll get better and better because you now have skin in the game. Trying to get young writers to have "skin in the game" is one of the real dilemmas facing writing instructors. Until its relevant and meaningful, trying to become a good writer (for someone who isn't a natural) is tough.

I took a comp class last fall and discovered that I actually enjoy writing, and I'm pretty good at it. But I won't do it unless I'm forced to, so to answer your question, spare time never, at work very little and it only consists of the paperwork I have to turn in.

Between emails and commenting on mountains of drafts in Word, I feel the balls of my writing energy largely drained.

I am a writer. It is what I do. I write extensively during my spare time from teaching. I consider my writing to be work.

What do you write?

Can you freaking imagine commenting on student papers without Word, though? Well... I can... because I used to at one time. They'd get little one word comments like, "Good," "Awkward" "?" "!" and shit like that. Now that I use Word's commenting, I can actually provide them meaningful feedback (disclaimer: I'm left handed, and my handwriting is practically indecipherable).

Ever read Letters to Penthouse?

You know, we have at least three professional writing teachers, to some degree, here with Reaper, Hamas, and NewChief.

Are there any other ways of becoming a better writer other than writing more and reading good writing (wherever and whatever that is)? I have my Strunk and White guide nearby for reminders of clarity and brevity.

I am a newspaper editorial page editor.

I write all day, every day. It's just that most of it isn't words.

Firstly: get into a group of writers. That might consist of making use of the writing lab at your school or finding a group of colleagues to write with. You might join a writing group either in real life or online. You need feedback on your writing beyond what a professor is going to give you.

Secondly: revision. Seriously. It's the missing piece for most people. I'm not talking about editing. I'm talking about moving ideas around, scrapping ideas, really going into full-scale revision (that seems to be what my students don't grasp. If they get it on the page, it's staying because to remove it or change it would take away from their content).

Thirdly: editing. This is probably where I struggle. I can proofread other people like crazy, but I can't proof my own shit. I have friends who do it for me. Anyway, you need to be able to go through and create tight, active prose (especially considering you're going into law and the tendency is going to be to lapse into legalese).

Finally: if you can take a reading/writing course from an actual writer who will talk about what you're reading from a point of view of the author's craft (not theory and all that shit), it will do wonders. Someone that breaks down exactly what the author is doing and why. It will make you think about writing and reading in a different way.

That's my little list. The others may have different suggestions, but I think that would help anyone who wants to improve as a writer.

Experiment. Work with different forms and techniques. Allow yourself to wander into stream of consciousness at times to see where it takes you.

Most importantly, you have to recognize who your audience is. Clarity and brevity is nice for professional writing, but that's really more for the sentence level. Excessive concision can create a redundant effect that puts your readers to sleep. You need to have variety in your style. I'm neither a big fan of Hemingway nor Dickens because of the excessive minimalism (H) or the preposterously long constructions (D). I think that demonstrating an ability at both is a better hallmark of a more versatile writer.

To piggyback on to what NC said, you have to look at revision as a compound word. Look at its roots.

"Re"-to do again
"Vision"-seeing

Re-see your paper. Ask yourself the purpose for a particular paragraph, quote, section, even an individual sentence. To what end did you make it? Why is it there? And when you look over it, don't read it, say it aloud to yourself. Clumsy constructions will make themselves more apparent when you speak them, whereas when you read your own writing you have a tendency to skim because you already know what is coming next.

I sign my name countless times at work. That's about the extent of it.

At home I write lyrics to songs, if that counts.

Essays, mostly. Other forms that fall under the "creative nonfiction" umbrella. I do dabble in some poetry, fiction and playwriting. But mostly essays. (And don't think like "school assignment" essays. Think: Montaigne.

Seconded.

Only on the bathroom walls...

I write erotic fanfic about the former NBC sitcom Wings.

I put moderately, because (for the spare time) even though I sit down and write quite a bit I'm bad at budgeting my time. Not nearly as much as I should. I normally need a deadline of some kind, and a lot of the time I'll write a bunch in the days before a deadline. I'm terrible at grammar so I gave up on writing short stories and that kind of thing, so I only like writing dialogue . I know that is supposed to be correct also, but there's more leeway with it.
For my job I type all day, but it's almost all numbers- financial type stuff.

I probably fall somewhere between the moderate and extensive category for work.

The only writing I do in my free time is on here.

The hardest thing about writing is to get the first draft down on paper. Writing de novo is painful. To do that, I have to get in the groove, which is the second hardest thing about writing. I can waste hours just getting to the point where the words start flowing. Then boom I'm on my way. My time is more fragmented now that it was in the past, so I have fewer opportunities to hit my stride. So writing seems harder now than it did in the past.

With poop?

I'm a Tech Writer/Analyst at work, so as you can imagine I do a lot of writing, editing, formatting, stylized writing and PowerPoint slide creating/reviewing. *sigh*

I also am working on a couple of short stories and novels in my "copious" spare time in the evenings.

I also assist with the Writer Beware committee for the Science Fiction/Fantasy Writers of America.

You've published some novels based on... Gauntlet (I think that's correct?), right? That's pretty awesome.

roses are red
violets are blue
I'm schizophrenic
and so am I

Correct. I did a novelization based on the Gauntlet Dark Legacy game and submitted the sequel (which unfortunately didn't get printed - but at least I got paid. :thumb:). I've also done a novella and a short story set in the Star Trek Universe, a Dr. Who short story and an Incredible Hulk short story.

Trying to get some original stuff published now.

I love to write, well I love to write about the things that I want to write about. May I ask, what job do you do that involves alot of writing?

I write many erotic stories for women to keep their hearts burning with desire in these bleak, sad times we live in.

Should the name be changed to typing? If I had to physically write half of what I do (which is very little) it would be even less.

You get paid to write for fun? And you write at work. Where do I sign up

Whenever I try to write, I just go blank right in the middle of a sent

A sentence from The New Yorker:

"The age of atomic energy could be said to have begun, literally, with the wave of a wand."

I think the sentence sounds better like this:

"One could [or: might] say the age of atomic energy began, literally, with the wave of a wand."

Is my sentence better than The New Yorker's?

If it's going to be your future career and you're not to good at it then may I suggest you pursue another future career. Perhaps one that you are good at. Otherwise you could end up being 35 years old and not know what you want to be when you grow up which is never a good thing...

I only "write" for school.

I used to write fiction all the time in high school. I always meant to get back into it but it never happened. I've always had trouble finishing things. Short stories - no problem. If I try and write something longer, I usually get about 25-50 pages in or so and then run out of steam.

I don't mind working at my writing in order to get better.

Your sentence is better. I would tighten it up even more and say:

The age of atomic energy began, literally, with the wave of a wand.

Thank you! The phrase "could be said to have begun" is (I think the term fits) a passive voice and seems very unsure of itself.

I compose more written word than I'd prefer. Typically in the form of email, written proposals, technical documents, project descriptions, grant applications etc...


The only thing I write for fun would be "kick me" signs and outhouse poetry.

I do have a concept for a book, that I intend to write one day, when time allows.

I like yours better, but I was actually thinking maybe the person from the New Yorker didn't want the "could" or "might" at the beginning because it makes the sentence start off passive.

"The age of atomic energy began, literally, with the wave of a wand."

So, with Hamas and NewChief, there are two authoritative voices for getting rid of "One could/might say."

My question is then: Isn't that being too authoritative? Because one could say that the atomic energy age began before the wave of a wand.

Including "One could say" allows a more open-minded view of when the atomic energy age actually began. Plus, what if you don't actually believe that it began with the wave of a wand, but you just want to present that argument?

It's strange how enjoyable playing with the sentence is.

It's strange how enjoyable it is to play with the sentence.

Playing with the sentence provides such a strange enjoyment.

I want to become an English teacher.

Bad sentence: An English teacher I want to become.

Who are the best living writers? Scalia? Gladwell? Roth?

There's no such thing as being too authoritative with your writing, and that's a very common problem for writing students. Trying to avoid sounding too authoritative leads to a lot of passive construction and wordiness.

If you're intentionally trying to leave it open for interpretation, then your construction is superior to the other in my opinion.

Do you find that such writing is due more to a lack of confidence or a lack of writing skills?

I haven't read the thread. Has the differentiation between legal writing and other forms of writing been taken insto consideration? Or is Jenson not focusing solely on the writing he is required to do for his classwork?

This thread is a free-for-all.

I do a lot of writing for work, narrative reports, supplements, evidence, warrant applications, but I do very little writing at home. the planet is probably 95% of my off duty writing, and that's mostly just bs posts like this one.

Not sure, actually. Varies from case to case.

That's a good point. Legal writing is, by nature, crap.

LMAO You try underlining endless pages with a four colored pen for 3 years and see how much people like your writing.

Do a stint in the Army and then get hired by a Defense Contractor. You'll get to write more than you ever thought you could. *grin*

It took me quite a while to get out of the Army style of writing (Bottom line up front, inverted pyramid, any document with more than 10% passive voice was an automatic fail for a school paper.)

But, that being said, it taught me that tight, concise writing was much more effective at getting a point across for a business paper.

And it doesn't hurt to get to the point in fiction either. No one's going to sit through a chapter about playing Bridge these days. Fleming could get away with it in "Moonraker", but no editor is going to settle for it today.

lol...got my fill in the Navy. Must pay pretty well though, huh

I'm part of a film production crew and obviously we have to be create stories to film, and its fun especially when its a comedy. I like writing a story, reading it, cracking up, giving it to other people to read, and then they crack up. Makes you feel good.

I once had a short play produced in Pittsburgh and I sat in the back and could see several people actually laughing until they were wiping their eyes. It was an awesome feeling.

Which is exactly why all the schools are focusing heavily on cleaning it up through mandatory writing classes and requirements.

And our professors are required to rip us apart, and they don't hold back. I know this all too well.

Classic example of bad legal writing: