Words on a page

Bill Bruford is my favourite drummer. He's not only a phenomenal musician, but he's also willing to take risks both musically and prfessionally. And, after almost 40 years in the music business he admits that he still has much to learn. As Bruford states in a recent interview:

... there are huge gaps in my technical knowledge-- which is what you might expect from someone who is street-trained.

So, what lesson can a writer learn from a musician? Keep learning, obviously. If you're a non-fiction writer, try learning some techniques from fiction to create a different kind of structure or flow in your work. If you're a technical writer, explore new tools and technologies. Or try branching out in writing whitepapers, articles, and reports. The same goes for business writers. As for fiction writers ... well, I'm not one but I'm sure that there are many ways in which they can keep learning, too.