What I Would Do to Improve my Writing

All human beings want to improve at what they do. We strive to get better, whether that be in sports or a hobby or people skills or beer-brewing. I'm a human being, and therefore I have similar thoughts- and at the moment, those thoughts are directed on writing.

To me, there are several things that I can do to get better at writing. The four pillars I can think of are;

1. Read.

2. Research 'good' writing technique.

3. Write.

4. Have your writing critiqued.

We read and research to learn from the mistakes and successes of those who came before us. We write to put this new knowledge to good use, and we're critiqued to learn how we can further improve.

As for me, I'm only doing moderately well as far as my four pillars are concerned. I write a fair amount, of course. What do you think I'm doing here? I read fairly often, although my reading levels have been declining lately. As for the research, I'll do an internet search for tips perhaps tri-weekly, and I have a selection of writing books to choose from.

The only category I'm really falling flat on? Having my writing reviewed by others.

Honestly, I have almost no proper knowledge as to what others think of my writing. As for family, we all know that most family members are biased with their ever-positive reviews. The few times my schoolmates have seen something I've written on a school project, they've generally given it good reviews. Of course, they aren't much better then family.

And as for complete strangers reviewing my work, I can think of maybe one incidence that I've had this happen to me, and that incident hardly counts.

So in short, I've only put in half the pieces I need in order to improve my writing. And I want to change that. 

Obviously, I'm not going to get reviews on this blog. We have yet to have any outsiders comment on this thing, despite our 900+ views. (Oh, and by the way... 900 views!) So I can't expect any help from you people. 

So here's the plan. By this time next month, I'll have submitted my writing to at least one competition or site, and see how it fairs. Also... I'll try to ask a favour from Laura. Just give me a minute... I'm going to talk to her now.

A SEGMENT FOR LAURA

Laura, 

you are an awesome sister. You always support me, no matter what I do. I'll love you forever and ever.

Do you know why I love you? Asides from the reasons already listed above, you do things for me like taking me out for hot chocolate. You comfort me when I'm down. And when I ask you to do me a favour, you always do so.

Completely unrelated to that last bit... I was wondering if you could do me a big favour. If you've read this post (and I know you always read my posts... right? If not, I suppose that I'll know by the end of this), you'll know that I need someone to critique my work. And although you are a biased family member, I wonder if you could help to fill that position? If you choose to accept this task, then this is what I would like from you. After you read one of my posts, you could jot down a rating out of ten, some general comments, and perhaps that old school thing of "two positives and a negative." Then you could email or otherwise send me this information.

If you were to do this, then I of course would offer he same service to you if you so desired, wonderful sister.

With love and hope,

Your loving brother,

-Mark

ps... we should call sometime!

END OF SECTION ADDRESSED TO LAURA

There. I think that it'll work, don't you?

In the meantime, I must flop on my bed and sleep. Thanks for reading, and g'night!

-Mark