After reading Spunk and Bite, my writing skill level has increased. I expected this book to showcase the basics of writing a contemporary style but instead it has highlighted some important details. Each chapter has influenced my skills into a positive direction. I’ve been persuaded to acquire a daily word of the day message via email to improve my vocabulary. What it found helpful in Spunk and Bite were the do’s and don’ts in each guide. It has helped me move along and understand each concept in the chapters. What also assisted me in moving along the chapters were the references and examples that the author made. Most of the references allowed me to grasp the details of the whole guide. I established that Spunk and Bite showcases some of Arthur
Stephen King, in his chapter titled “Toolbox” in On Writing, aims to convince the struggling writer that taking simple steps to organize a metaphorical box of writing tools will improve their writing. He does so through the use of organization, substance, and style and by appealing to his audience with logical examples to support his claims. “Toolbox” is, in summary, a crash course given by King on writing improvement. He depicts the fundamentals of good writing as levels of a toolbox then demonstrates how and when each writing tool should be used (King 106-107). The chapter is a veritable response to the question, “How can I improve my writing?” which one can imagine King is routinely asked as a world-renowned author. He already enjoyed an immensely successful writing career when Hodder published On Writing in 2012, so King wrote the chapter “Toolbox” as literary advice to fellow writers by drawing from his own success (“Stephen King”).
Everyone knows what writing is to one extent or another, but we all have different definitions of how it should be done and varying degrees of seriousness about the art. We all have a process of writing, but each is unique to ourselves and our own experiences. Annie Dillard and Stephen King are two well known authors who have published many pieces, two of which describe how they view the writing process and let their readers get a peek of what goes on through their minds when they write. These two pieces are Dillard’s The Writing Life and King’s “What Writing Is.”
Writing is different for everybody. After reading the first part of On Writing Well by William Zinsser my perspective toward writing changed; starting off by the fact that he admitted that “writing is indeed hard” (12). This author, with humorous stories and anecdotes, explained several principles that help one understand how to write efficiently. First of all, be yourself! Zinsser emphasizes the fact that you should be true to yourself and your writing in order to engage a reader in your piece. Other essential principles are: Be precise and avoid clutter. He claims that “the secret to good writing is to strip every sentence to its cleanest components” (7). As I read, I noticed how important engaging a reader becomes to an author but Zinsser reminded me how my writing was made to “please myself first” and then an audience (25). The last but not least rules to follow are: to “avoid clichés” (Zinsser, 35) and “separate usage from confusing jargon” (Zinsser, 45). It is important to maintain your reader active by expressing clear thoughts and avoiding typical sayings that only make a literary piece
The preceding chapters contain instructions drawn from established English usage this one contains advice drawn from a writers experience of writing. Since the book is a rule book these cautionary remarks these subtly dangerous hints are presented in the form of rules but they are in essence mere gentle reminders they state what most of us know and at times forget.
Christine Love Thompson discusses strategies that she believes are the foundation to “good” writing in the article, “A Dose of Writing Reality: Helping Students Become Better Writers.” Thompson discovers that it is not correct spelling and grammar that makes a “good” writer; it is the voice of the student. She uses sources to support her claim that methods such as using graphic organizers and her constantly making corrections are not as effective as they seem. Thompson organizes the article to ensure better understanding of the process she went through to help her students become better writers.
To improve my writing based on the online tools feedback and analysis I will engage in more reading and writing. The first point of reference is to utilise text book such as the Communication Skills Toolkit: Unlocking the Secrets of Tertiary Success by Grellier and Goerke (2010). In addition The Little Red Writing Book: Better Sentences (n.d.) offers another medium for writing effective sentences. The benefits of The Little Red Writing Book entail sentence structure, punctuation, and grammar and syntax where at the end of each section, there are activities for practice. Furthermore, text books and tutor’s notation for required discipline will enhance my learning in reading and writing.
Most elements of writing (development, organization, and style) fit task, purpose, and audience. Some identifiable mismatches.
The Introduction chapter points out that in order to get better at writing, one must practice often. The goal is making you writing flow like a conversation (2).
What I learned for myself as a writer when I don’t know where to begin and what to say, by learning the steps and the technique I learned
This course offers numerous opportunities to improve our writing. In this class, I not only enhanced the skills I already had, but also learned new writing concepts. Before I took this class, I knew that my writing is poor, and I have always wanted to improve it; however, I did not know how and what aspects of writing to improve. So, I came into this class with the ambition to improve my writing, and I have accomplished my goal although there is still room for improvement. At this point of this course, I have learned the elements that successful writing is composed of, and I am now able to categorize the various techniques that can work together to define strong
In my childhood I was not taught the fundamentals of proper writing. Nor was it influenced in my household to dedicate time for writing. My father owned his own business, therefore, I always saw him writing inventory and receipts. As for my mother, I can recall her writing down messages from phone calls. At school I found little to no growth in my writing. When I did face a task that required legible writing I would seek help from my friend Sandra. This class is by far the first English course I have taken were I could truly say lectures are broken down enough for me to develop satisfactory growth. I am still a developing writer, but I have made a lot of progress because of influences of my own desire to learn, Professor Anna C. Morrison, and
Writing presents it’s own challenges to those who write books and articles daily; and to those who write less frequently. Getting around using punctuation, placing commas, and figuring out how to start an essay always seemed to be the biggest challenges for me. Through practice is the only way I’ve come to be masterful over my own writing style, even though there is always room for improvement. Because each time someone sits down to write a letter, article, or book; they are practicing their writing style and ultimately becoming better writers. Many people find writing to be a hassle or too cumbersome in a day in age of technology and the internet supplying information to the public so immediate, but everyone must overcome challenges that they
I have never felt comfortable with writing. However, after reading “Having a Bad Morning” by Alex Johnson and learning about how even the most brilliant writers get frustrated with their inner writing voices, I feel much better about it. In addition to mental assurance, Johnson also offers a guideline of the writing process. Although it was comforting to see that I share many similar stages of writing as Johnson, there are still many steps I can learn from his guideline to better my writing process.
This semester I was surprised by how much I actually learned and developed my writing skills. I was given the opportunity to learn the many steps that it is required to become a good writer. Writing requires a lot of work. It consists of various steps; prewriting, drafting, rewriting, proofreading and publishing. . All of these components are extremely important, and necessary, and will need to be follow to improve student’s writing.
Imagine, what if United State passed laws for everyone to own a gun. Oh, No!!! The rate of death will rapidly increase in everyday. According to the Second Amendment, it states that, "A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed." In other words, individual has right to bear guns for safety when necessary and it is not going to be violated. In order to own a gun, requirements are necessary which gives the permit of gun to an individual. People who support the gun control believe that, gun violence would be reduced, if government keep passing laws on gun. Those laws will restrict people from shooting. Opponents of gun control say that, the Second Amendment protects an individual’s right to own guns that guns are needed for self defense from local criminals and gun ownership deters crime rather than causes more crime. Meaning, amendment gave right to bear arm for self protection. Therefore, having more gun will be safer for them and for the society also. However, none of the parties are right about it because from my point of view, having gun is causing more dangerous among people in society and also for the country because having gun is not preventing any crime however, it is increasing the rate of more crimes. People who own a gun and shoot whoever they think are dangerous, is the person who is becoming the criminal not the other person who is around the gun owner.