What did I do to write at a high level

Hi team,

I hope you are well! It has been an incredibly busy time here in the Mills household and as much as I would have loved to regularly get this blog going in January, it just wasn't feasible. We have had a lot of changes happen in the last few months and we were trying to find our new equilibrium and plan for the future (as the big plan we had planned was just throw out the window thanks to a faulty caravan).

Something that I wanted to talk about was how I became good at writing and writing at a high level. I am currently undertaking another graduate diploma and was talking with a peer as I mentioned that I had done a lot of other study to date and she commented that I must be great at writing assignments then. I didn't have it in me to say I was a published author as well. But... it got me thinking. How did I become good at writing, what experience and learnings have I had that allowed me to get to this point. When I submitted my first novel's manuscript to various publishing houses, I received consistent feedback that my writing was at a high level. So what made me able to write at such a high level? Especially when I would have said english was not my strength when I studied in high school.

I personally believe that my writing was shaped by the many graduate and post graduate studies that I have completed. Although writing academically is different to writing fiction, I learned how to shape my words around the topic at hand. I learned how to eliminate unnecessary words (this was a really hard skill for me to learn, and still to this day when I edit, I am like Kirsty what were you thinking?). I have learned how to edit... man editing is one of the biggest things! But I learnt that my thoughts are important too and sometimes it's good to just get the words on the page and then clean up later with editing. It doesn't mean that everything I write has a tonne of editing. But I learned the value in just making myself sit there and write, to just get the damn words on the page, even if its lengthy and confusing and not perfect. But... this allowed me to become diligent in getting words on the page, not letting writer's block affect me (yes, it affected me academically as well) and then I found when editing time came, I could usually pick up on what I was trying to put down. I would then clean that up with a big edit, pull pieces out, write in better pieces and pulled it together.

I believe that countless assignments, exam responses and then working as a lecturer and composing assessment pieces have allowed me to have a greater appreciation for writing and strengthened my ability to write. Through completing assessments and then structuring the marking rubrics, I was able to learn what constitutes as a high level of writing. It allowed me to know how to hone my sentences and get my point across in a clear, concise manner. So do I suggest copious amounts of study, only if you want the qualifications - study is not for the faint of heart and as I step back into more study, I really say only do it if that is what you want and need to become what your dream is. However, I do believe you could hone your writing through writing short stories, synopses or reviews of a book you have just read. The point is to keep it short, to train yourself into finding ways to eliminate the jargon and unnecessary words whilst maintaining the key concepts and dramatic flair. Synopses or book reviews would be a great way to hone your writing, as you know what happened in the book, you are just trying to give a shorter view of the book and so this means you need to be particular with your words. Then get someone you know to read it and see if it makes sense. Or, if you are in a book club you could get someone in your club to buddy up with you and as you both do this in your practice to hone your writing you read each other's work. This way there is a thousand times less stress than on an assignment where you mark makes or breaks your overall grade. Trust me, I've been there and its a horrible feeling as you wait for the grade.

My next bit of advice is to READ. Read. Read. Read. Read everything, read different genres, read non-fiction, read fiction, read journal articles on things that you are interested in. Get a feel for different writing styles, different perspectives and approaches to writing. No one size fits all. I read a lot, this past year I read 56 novels (fantasy, romance, self-help - my favourite genres). But the more I read, the more I notice different styles of writing. I see a way an author brings in the main love interest and think ooh I like that. And it sticks in my brain as a differnet way to bring in a character. I see how an author structures there book as it jumps between two timelines and think wow isn't that cool and so I work out how I can incorporate that style into my own personal style. This allows me to experience many different forms of writing that becomes a part of the tools in my tool belt of writing.

I do want to say that even within my own writing, I have different styles. How I write this blog post - very conversational, is different to how I write novels or how I write academic papers. Within one person we can have different ways of writing and from this can bring different elements to the paper depending on what we are writing. So don't forget to play with your writing either, try different styles, try different things and see what feels right for you.

These are just thoughts on a page on how I feel I became good at writing. It doesn't mean that I always was. Trust me, high school Kirsty HATED writing. I found it to free. There was no confines with which I needed to write into. Whereas science and mathematics for me made sense, there was a strict way to do things and you did it. Writing however, that scared me and so I didn't explore it. But... I got older. I got less scared and I learned that I LOVE being creative and that gave me the freedom to explore my writing.

I wish you that same freedom in your writing and hope that you will find your writing style and jump in fingers first (let's face it, we need them), and hit the keyboard typing.

-K