While meandering through someones blog I saw the nifty new stars for voting on contest entries..it looks really neat!
And of course thanks to all who voted for mine 
I checked out all the most interesting titles and did a little voting myself.
I remember reading a tale of a writer who credits his skills to a childhood assignment to write 100 words on nothing once a week. The fellow recalling this was of course an excellent writer..but you know every kid in his writers class had to do the same thing...and most of them were never heard from again. But were they better writers for the practice?
I have no idea, not having a class list or a before and after writing sample to test this, but in theory it makes sense. Which is why I blog every day. Not that I have any desire to be a writer, just that when I do have an opinion I wish I could write it better. So I blog every day, and I make it a personal goal to blog for the contests. Just to have a forced topic to practice on.
I dunno if it is helping my writing skills at all, but I do type faster!
Nifty voting, and why I write
December 3rd, 2007 at 09:43 pm
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:07 pm 1196719643
reading a variety of authors exposes you to different styles of writing, tone and so on. So you're exposed to ways to improve your own writing in a way that's not possible if you just kept writing your own stuff in a vacuum.
I was a voracious reader when i was growing up, reading everything i could get my hands on, even certain books that my parents felt were beyond what was appropriate for my age (like a WWII book). The habit continued through college and into my 20s, when i would make a weekend trip to the bookstore and read a new book each week. After that, though, the realities and demands of life caught up with me and i went for many years just reading magazine subscriptions or stuff for work.
I seem to be getting back into the reading habit, though, and to help motivate myself to keep reading, i keep an annual log of all the books i've read, with author's name, date of publication, a summary and my own rating.
I don't think my blogging here does anything to help my writing. Blogging here is almost like keeping an informal diary/journal, except that i get feedback from others. It's too informal and casually done to mean much more.
December 3rd, 2007 at 10:15 pm 1196720148
And as to the informal, that is the kind of writing I want to do...or rather the kind I find myself needing.
I don't want to be a great writer, just able to get my point across without offending anyone.