How to Write

I started blogging for two reasons: In the short-term, I wanted to foster more thoughtful engagement from my students on what they found interesting or confusing in class. If I want students to do something, I should also do it myself. The long-term reason came from the realization that my writing wasn’t very good. I could churn out a jargon-laden stultifying academic research paper that checked all the necessary boxes, but I didn’t enjoy reading my own papers. And if I didn’t enjoy them, chances are few others would.

 

While I feel that my writing improved over the first five years or so, being more flexible and experimenting with different styles, lately I feel like I’m in a bit of a rut. In earlier days, I tried to think about what other readers might be interested in and how to keep them engaged. But I feel I’ve turned inward, writing mostly for myself and using my blog as an extended memory bank. I’m not sure this is a good thing, although it functionally serves its purpose.

 

This morning I felt a small jolt to improve my writing once again. The impetus is a refreshing article in the Chronicle of Higher Education by Rachel Toor. It is titled “How to Be Yourself on the Page” (linked here, may be behind a paywall). Her catchy subtitle: “You may understand the power of first-person writing, but can you wield it gracefully?” Lately, I’d rate my writing as rushed and awkward. Certainly not graceful. Toor’s key principle is that you need to tell a story, it needs characters, and the one you know best is yourself. That’s what first-person writing is all about.

 

Toor provides the following list of suggestions. I found each of them a helpful reminder. Each of her suggestions is bold-faced. Brief first-person commentary from me follows.

 

1. Think of a specific person as your reader. Lately, that person is me. But I’m not sure that’s the best choice. Sometimes I aimed my writing at my students or my fellow teachers; and these are probably the more interesting (and useful) articles. Other times, it was a stream of consciousness data dump to no one in particular. Toor suggests thinking about a specific individual when writing – I find this imagery helpful. For today’s article, that individual is me. I’m writing an advice column to myself.

 

2. Write a draft as an email. The idea behind this is to draw out why you’re writing on the particular topic. I don’t know how this works, but I will have to experiment. Today’s post is not being written as an email.

 

3. Write the way you speak. This is one suggestion I’ve incorporated early on. I think it has helped. However, I should combine it with #1 and think of someone I’m speaking to. At present, I’m speaking to myself. In my own head. And I can be quite verbose in my own head.

 

4. Make sure personal details in your writing serve a purpose. I haven’t thought about this point carefully. Perhaps I’ve been doing so implicitly; my approach is to be minimalistic about personal details but occasionally use them as anecdotal examples. Toor asks the question: “[Do] those details illuminate something important” that you’re trying to get across in your writing? I should stop to think about this when writing.

 

5. Don’t make yourself the hero. This seems like good advice. I’m self-deprecating but that’s culturally built-in and I haven’t been thoughtful about how I self-present. Echoing #4 above, I’m doubly reminded that I could be more thoughtful in the writing process. I need to up the meta-cognitive quotient.

 

6. Write long drafts and then cut ruthlessly. I don’t do this. I’m too lazy. That’s probably why some of my blog posts are over-long and bloated. Maybe a part of me secretly thinks that most of my writing is good and worth preserving. Maybe I subconsciously excuse myself by thinking I’m following #3. Except that I can be verbose in my own head. I don’t know when I’ll actually try this. But I should. Though not in today’s post. Too lazy.

 

7. But don’t fail to elaborate. I run into lapses where I get stuck and don’t know how to continue. So does Toor, and she makes a great suggestion: “After you write a declarative statement, add the phrase ‘by that I mean’ or ‘I think this because’ and see what you have to say.” This dovetails with #6. Toor explains: “Writing should be an exercise in discovery. Often we need to write our way into our subjects. The first three paragraphs… are throat-clearing. In the heat of banging out a draft, we use plenty of needless words. I find pleasure in reducing flab.” I like her philosophy. If only I had her patience and discipline as a writer.

 

Okay. It remains to be seen if I will apply any of these principles in my next few posts. I’m glad for the reminders.