Rick's Writing Journal (dropping the numbers) Learning To Write.

It was around six months ago that I really decided to give writing a real go. One thing I really had no idea about was how much there is to learn.

First, I heard of something called, 'voice'. I was reading comments about a piece of writing having a strong or weak voice, I had no idea what this meant. I think I'm now beginning to get it; just the act of trying to write has helped me to understand.

Next came 'flow', people talking about how some writers have a great flow in their writing. Again I had no idea, but I have begun to understand after recantly reading a book by Margo Lanagan. The book, 'White Time' has ten stories in it. I did not like all the stories, but I found myself wanting to read them just because of the way they were written. Because of the way the words 'flowed' off the page.

Most recently, I want to a one day workshop on grammar for writers. I knew that I didn't know a lot about grammar, that good grammar helps, but how much I need to know really surprised me. It was a classic case of, 'The more you learn, the more you realize you need to learn.', but I learnt enough to want to learn more.

Learn about all of it, I want to learn and to write.

PS. I'm making good progress on my story goals for the end of the month.