Writing can be seen as a craft. In my opinion, the more you practice it, the better you get. However, there are articles that you read and get so much value that you believe writing has to be a gift. This tends to beg the question:
Are writers made or born?
Your answer to this question can vary from others, depending on your experience with writing and other writers in general. In this article, I will try to answer this question with my journey so far. I believe it is similar to that of others. I would still like to tell you, though.
My First Touch with Writing
When I began writing, I did not believe I was good. I remember writing letters and essays in English class and getting around average marks. Keeping to the strict writing and grammatical rules was challenging. I would either miss the punctuations or get misspellings. As it was "just English" and it seemed I did not know how to use it well, I saw no need in challenging myself by applying for essay competitions.
Moving forward, I relegated writing to the background, enjoying the short form of text utilized in chat rooms. This went on until I discovered and started to understand the power of writing.
How My View of Writing Changed
Later on, in my college days, I decided to get into digital marketing. That was when I understood the power of words and how the content, as well as the context, mattered. I saw how writing helped the reader truly understand the writer's views, or at least, see these views as the writer saw them. Writing does not only convey the opinions of the writer but provides value on specific topics.
Some of the best articles that we have read are because of the change we experienced when we reached the end of that article or somewhere along with the words. It could have been a paradigm shift, a shift in perspective, a new mental model, or simply another opinion. Still, the important thing about the article is that it provided value.
Although I ended up not practicing digital marketing, the value of writing stuck with me. There was another time I picked up the proverbial pen to try writing again. I was attending a Data Science Bootcamp, and I decided to attempt documenting my journey. It was a pleasant experience, and my peers encouraged me to keep writing. The articles are on Medium, and I subtly cringe when I go through them cause they are riddled with beginner errors. Till now, I have not gotten around to editing them to be "better".
When Things Really Kicked Off
A while after the digital marketing thing, I got a role as a writing intern. The theme of this period would be:
The way to get better at writing is by writing.
I got involved in various types of content, including domain descriptions, product reviews, landing pages, blog posts, and scientific articles. They were scary, and almost every time, I would wonder if I could do it or not. I am truly grateful for this period in my writing journey because I learned writing techniques, how to tackle writer's block(arguably not a real thing), and researching topics. I learned by doing and gathered valuable experience.
Presently
I still make an effort to improve my writing, enroll in courses, register for boot camps, and learn how to craft words to share my story or provide meaningful value to the readers. You see, I believe writing is an art. and that understanding this concept would go a long way because art is something you create by the cultivation of skill, not only talent. Keep practicing; the journey is still on.
The Source of Inspiration
I have to add, that the inspiration for this article came from these amazing individuals:
I wrote this article after attending the first day of The Hashnode Bootcamp, which they facilitated, and I look forward to the rest days, as I gained immense value from Day 1. Thank you!
Now that you have reached the end of this article, kindly feel free to share your journey too. It is a community after all.