Writing is one of the most essential skills we must learn in
today’s society. It is important to success in school. It is
important to success in the work force. Writing is important to
participate in the new global economy. Not only is writing
important for communicating with others, it is also an important
part of learning and problem solving. While most people fully
recognize just how important writing is, many still do not fully
understand how to develop this important life skill. There are
four important rules to remember when working to develop your
writing skills.

Writing cannot be learned in a short time. You can take a writing
class that can help you improve your skill but getting drastic
improvements to your writing skill is really a task that can take a lot longer.
Writing is complex and challenging and takes time to
learn then even more time to fully develop your potential as a
writer.

Writing cannot be learned from a book or a lecture. A good
writing teacher is more of a coach than a lecturer because truly
the only way to improve your writing is through practice.
Writing is a skill that requires you to develop your muscle
memory just as other arts, such as music and dance, as well as
sports. You must continually practice a dance step or football
play before it becomes second nature. The same principle holds
true of writing.

Writing is a process. Writing must proceed through a series of
steps: invention, drafting, revising and editing. While the
process is universal, each individual writer has a unique process
that can be adapted to changing writing tasks. The writing
process is recursive and writers may find themselves moving back
and forth between steps on some writing projects.

Writing is socially situated. Unless writing strictly for
yourself, it is important to spend time contemplating the social
situation of your writing task. Who is your audience? What type
of language use does that audience expect? Should the writing be
formal or casual? What knowledge can you expect the audience to
possess and what knowledge does the audience expect of you as the
writer?

Anyone can be a writer. Writing well is not a gift from the gods
or an inherited trait. It is a skill that can be learned and
refined through practice. It takes time and effort to learn to
write well, just as anything worth doing does, but the rewards
for your effort can be infinite.

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