The Writing Education

The Writing Education
By Marilyn Mackenzie



Reading the works of others, whether the great writers of old, contemporary best selling authors, or our own Writing.Com writers, can be educational. Writing can offer its own education as well.

My grandmother always reminded me of the importance of learning something new every day. My mother continued this lesson. And, hopefully, I’ve passed on that same lesson to my own son as well.

While writing a work of fiction, one might have to do an in depth study of the time period of the story to make character descriptions and dialogue realistic. Essays or historical pieces must be accurate, of course, and might require studying before completion.

It’s possible that during the research involved with a writing project, that we’ll learn something we didn’t know before. It’s also highly likely that the writing experience can have an impact on our lives, can expand our minds. Even while relating true stories of our own lives, there are lessons to be learned.

One young author here, while writing a piece of fiction about a topic often in the news and on our minds, saw her own opinions changing even as she wrote.

Another writer and I collaborated on a story. After he completed his portion of our story, and after I had written my contribution, the question arose about the spelling of one word.

The word in question was "calloused." My spell checker insisted that the word should be "callused." The Merriam-Webster Collegiate On-Line Dictionary explained that "callused" began being used in 1864; it was the latest accepted spelling.

We opted for the more familiar spelling – calloused – in our story. Still, a lesson was learned while writing about our lives.

There are lessons to be learned all around us – in nature, from our children and grandchildren, even from our own writing experiences. Each of us have stories to be told, in prose, in poems, in song. If we open our minds and hearts to lessons as we write, we’ll be doubly blessed.


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