One of the things that tells you how well you know a thing, is to teach that thing. I didn’t really ever learn how to write, not in a classroom sense. Oh, I’ve taken english classes, but writing was something that sort of happened to me, not something I actually planned to do. I learned […]
One of the things that tells you how well you know a thing, is to teach that thing.
I didn’t really ever learn how to write, not in a classroom sense. Oh, I’ve taken english classes, but writing was something that sort of happened to me, not something I actually planned to do.
I learned it by doing it; by reading relentlessly, and by writing and re-writing until I liked what I read.
There are things I don’t get; don’t ask me about grammar, or to diagram a sentence. I still get hung up playing Mad Libs when asked for an adverb. I’m like a musician who learned by ear, and can play any chord he hears, but has no idea what a Dmaj7 or a Bm7 other than knowing how it sounds.
I write by ear, in effect; I know how it should sound, and how it shouldn’t.
I’ve developed skills in various areas – fiction, primarily, and what’s called the ‘causal essay’ (ie, blogging). BUt what I know, and what I don’t know, has always really been a non-issue for me. I don’t think about it, I just do it.
It never occurred to me that I actually know enough about this to teach it.