Your Strength of Writing

Is writing your strength? If your answer is yes! There is another question for you to ponder upon and answer yourself. What is the strength of your writing? Or, rather, what are the strengths of your writing? I believe these questions are very straight and you might be having very straight answers to these questions. Some of you can start listing down the answers as soon as these questions are put across.

Many of us can list down: Good Command over the language, Good Knowledge of Grammar and sentence construction, Good Vocabulary and list goes on. Many of us believe that we can achieve creating a good piece of writing if we have these ingredients as our weapon to use. To a great extent we are quite correct in our approach. However, we will be missing the larger picture if we don’t have the good thinking. To me good writing is about good thinking.

The powerful writing is not merely the selection of some special words, but the formation of good thoughts. This is the difference between an elegant prose written by a renowned author and an amateur writer. You may call it a great writing! It is in fact great thinking. To achieve any emotion and passion, words must reflect value-added thought. The reflection of good writing can be a visual part in any form, be it script, an article, an essay, an advertisement or a user manual.

Writers sell their writing because what they write about and not how they write it. Moreover this is a controversial statement and many of the people would not agree with me. But the point what I want to make is the content in your writing. Readers like to read piece of your writing because of your content. If the content is important, have appeal, value and mesmerizing effect, it is bound to sell.

Whereas if you have created writing and have made a brilliant display of your impeccable language skills but failed to address what are you trying to say through your writing then there is something missing. Do you believe it will create any interest among the readers? I doubt. Reader will lose interest in the middle and switch over to something else. So, a brilliant piece of language would not really sell.

For that matter, even the good content written in poor manner with grammatical mistakes and with poor presentation will not enthuse a reader to go through the end of the write-up. Therefore, the message is, a good writing should have a good content and good language.

So, your writing has to be a mix of good thought and good language. The question is how can you have both in your writing. Mind you, it’s not an easy task. But nothing is impossible. What should be the best practice to emulate these in our writing, which can add value to our writing legacy and command respect from the readers. The two principles what has worked for me very effectively are: critical thinking and rigorous editing.

I create my article with many passes. These passes are nothing but visiting and re-visiting the write-up for editing until I get satisfied that my message can get through the reader well. You can have a look how it goes.

First pass: Write down my thought without any hindrances.

Second pass: Categories the paragraph and reshuffle it up and down to create a real good story in readable format.

Third Pass: check for the language legibility, spellings and errors.

Fourth pass: Look into the article with intent to search for the inner beauty—Is it appealing to the reader?

Fifth pass: Go through hurriedly to note that even casual reading can make you understand the content of the write-up.

Sixth pass: Do you see any value in the write-up?

If satisfied, then finally passed to publishing. Off course these are my working steps, which has worked in favor of me for past few years at least creating a face value as a writer. It might work with you as well. Give it a try or else get a good working steps of your own which can establish you to be a better writer. Choice is anyway yours.

Reading helps Writing

A writer is a good reader himself. I have come across this statement quite a number of times. Frankly speaking, I realized very late the potential of being reader could enlighten the spirit of writing in me. In fact I can write and I want to write itself took long time for me to understand. As usual, like numerous Indians who are not aware what they want to do with their life, what they are interested into and what they want to become, I too was indecisive about my life.

In reality, what you want to do and what you are ought to do are two things, which literally makes you think before taking a step in life. You are ought to be in a profession which earns you livelihood, is the first thing you are supposed to be doing than the next what is close to your heart in our context. If what you dream to do, is what you do, and that gives you livelihood, then you are the luckiest soul. Else, bury your idea to follow your dream. This is nothing but the opportunity available for you. But if the opportunity really exists, will you have the right skills to chase your dream is another question. For example you want to break into writing, but can you write effectively.

Ask hundred people whether they want to write something or not. Ninety out of hundred times you will find the answer that people want to write something. Every one of them has some message to convey to the world or to the small crowd to which they belong to. Sometimes, they simply want to write their diary. Once you write and if your writing is published, it adds into your joy. Suddenly you discover that you can write and you can express your ideas across. That is when you feel you can take a chance in a writing career.

But, writing is not as easy as many of us might think. Good knowledge of language, grammar and even good selection of words can not guarantee you to be a good writer. Many people speak eloquently without any hesitation. However, if they are asked to write the same things what they speak, many of them would struggle. Because putting down something as coherent sentences is a difficult act. I bet, to do that, some special impetus is required.

I recall my first encounter when I began writing. The first shot was a letter to the editor of a science magazine. Successful, with moderate editing it was published. Then on, whenever felt like expressing my views, kept on writing to different magazines, news papers and most of the cases it published except on a few occasions when my idea was preconceived and supporting particular ideological group.

Over the period of time I have learned to express in writing what I want to say. Though, not very accurately but most of the time I have been able to narrate the point what I want to say. The pivotal point of my writing have been the input I have gathered while reading others writing. Consciously or unconsciously, other’s writing has contributed immensely in my writing also. I have learnt the art of expression, narration, arranging the content and creating a style of my own. That has purely come to me because of reading other's creation. The more you read, the more you evolve as a writer.

Truly, writing requires empathy. The personal experiences and the view point has greater role to play while you write. Rightly once said by one of the writer, “Reading is an education and writing is a pleasure one shares.” There is no substitute to this fact.

To many of the writers beyond anything reading and writing make life more colorful, intriguing and interesting. Seeing their writing published makes one feel happy more than anything else, as they are likely to reach a larger audience. When I read the comments posted by the reader on my writing, it provides me different dimension of thoughts on my write-up. In my opinion, to write effectively and beautifully, one needs to read more good pieces of writing. The revelation and expression of your inner beauty comes out naturally in your writing and you do not tend to emphasize on it. That’s the wonderful effect of reading to writing.

Global Language: Can’t get without English

Today’s Era of modernization has always lured us to study in English medium schools and colleges in order to be ahead in the career and job hunting. Its really pathetic and heartening that in spite of knowing that English is the language, which holds the key for the individual’s success in today’s world, our politicians have not promoted it in the school and colleges. Rather after independence the political will to promote Indian language, that is precisely regional in nature, and Hindi, which is the national language of the country, have taken the importance to be taught in the school and colleges and made compulsory as a vernacular.

It is but natural to have love for the national language and regional language. However, it should not be at the cost of ignoring to teach the language which can help you earn your livelihood. The motive to introduce regional and national language in government school and colleges gave a political opportunity for the politicians of the country to achieve their goal based on the language divide. English was out of the school in the primary school and introduced only from class six. Almost all the state government followed the same principle and English medium education remained isolated in few of the public, central, private and convent schools and the colleges.

Although, even in isolation, the worst English medium schools and colleges were considered better in education standard than so called good government schools and colleges. Most of the government schools and colleges deteriorated over the years because of lack of willingness of the teachers to provide good education. Yet, most of the IITians, IIM’s aluminous had government school education. However, they are again handful in sheer number who can hold few of the top positions in government and in the private jobs.

Whereas on an average, who can steer the main work of the corporate sectors and government sector, the convent and public school educated youths were always in demand because of the English language skills. Though we say that Hindi is our national language, English remained our official language because of the regional divide and lack of common will to make Hindi the national language in true sense and spirit. It lacked the political will to do so and because of that English survive the onslaught. Good that English survived the step motherly treatment.

Many of the so-called nationalist and pseudo nationalist might term me the anti nationalist in terms of the praise and importance I am showering for a foreign language. That too, this is called our oppressor’s language. And love for this language is clearly a sin in terms of the love for the nation. But if it is so, all the politician’s sons and daughters are the bigger sinner than me. They all have got educated in English medium.

Once while doing my post graduation, one of my teacher very clearly and forcibly had stressed upon that if you want to get something good out of your life, learn to speak and write good English. It was an advice, but off course it was a requirement for me. I studied from government school that too half of my schooling was done in the hinterland background and coping up to know English well was a major challenge for me. Well, over the years, I have grown and learnt English as days passes. Every day is a day of learning for me. And today because of English I am able to feed my family and myself. Kudos to English, which is sustaining my life.

The globalization has thrown open the door of opportunity and it is this language, which can help any one who wants to be successful. The global language, which can get you to the top, is none other than English. In past one decade the jobs, which are outsourced to India and to the Indians, are because of its English knowing talent pool. In future also more jobs will be offered to Indians because of their English communication skills. This is the fact and it is going to stay. Whether government believes it or not, without English our future is going to be ruined. It is no more the language of class. It is the language of mass. The better we know, the better we are equipped for the job.

Sensing the scenario, now even the common man thinks of sending their children to English medium schools. More CBSE, ICSE English medium private schools are coming up and these are no doubt attracting the crowd. The government schools are facing stiff competition. Especially in Kerala and Karnataka the government schools are the last resort. Other states also following them though bit slowly. People have lost faith in corrupt politicians who have kept the people aloof from the opportunity and now in this age of globalization they do not want their children to miss the opportunity what they might have missed because of not knowing English.

I wish good luck to the people for their wisdom of understanding the change and taking appropriate steps for the future of their children.