Words on a page

If you want to improve as a writer, you not only need to write. You need to read. Writing and reading are two sides of the same coin. You need to do both to achieve your potential.

By reading, you’re exposing yourself to different voices and viewpoints. And you can pick up some new techniques. Not only that, you get a great opportunity to see what other writers are doing well and what they’re doing badly. Sometimes, you might just be blown away by what you read. So much so that you’ll try harder to improve.

Of course, there’s definitely nothing wrong with reading for pleasure. It can be relaxing to lose yourself in a book, no matter how good or bad.

While I take my own advice and read a lot, I’ve actually cut down on a lot of reading. I deliberately put myself on a low-information diet and, to be honest, I’m not missing out on much (if anything).

That said, I still read quite a bit. Here’s a sampling of the types of things that I read, and why.

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Failure. It’s not a word many of us like to hear. Failure isn’t a four-letter word, but it’s treated like one. It supposedly has a stench. If nothing else, failure has a number of negative connotations — both perceptually and psychologically.

Failure is more than a word or an idea, though. It’s a force that can mold you. A force that can drive you to strive to succeed. Or a force that can cause you to pull back from a trying something and not try it again.

And, as you can probably tell, failure has been on my mind for the last while. No particular reason for that, so don’t get worried. But a comment by fellow tech comm blogger Ivan Walsh on a post in this space got me thinking. Ivan wrote:

The problem is that we don’t fail enough.

If you want to be a chess grandmaster, then you need to play (and get beat 100s) of times to build up the critical mass of knowledge that’s required.

It’s when you don’t learn from failure, then you’ve got a problem.

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It doesn’t matter what your high school English teacher said. It doesn’t matter what your university composition instructor said. And it definitely doesn’t matter what Microsoft Word’s grammar checker tells you.

When writing, there are times when you need to break the rules.

Shocking. Perhaps even sacrilegious. But why do it? There are a number of reasons. I tend to break the rules for three reasons:

1. Your writing will sound (or at least seem) more conversational.
2. A piece of writing that breaks the rules, and does the job properly, is often more memorable and has a bit more impact than a properly-formed sentence.
3. Shock value. if someone is expecting a so-called proper constructions and don’t get them, they’ll either be surprised, or (I hope) intrigued enough to keep reading.

Here are some of my thoughts about this.

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Last week, I had a short but interesting chat with someone at the corporate gig I’m currently working on. He was telling me about a commentator he heard on the radio who stated that ebook readers in their current form were doomed. Why? Because 1) the screens are grayscale, and 2) the content on the devices is static.

The commentator contended that text isn’t enough, and that you can incorporate dynamic content — say, Flash movies — in an ebook. That way, what’s being read becomes more compelling to the reader, and brings the content to life.

Interesting ideas, and ones that I’d heard several times in the past. I wasn’t convinced. I’m still not. Here’s why.

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I’m not usually the sentimental type. But sometimes the urge to look back grips me and my mind turns to the past. Sometimes it’s to reflect on triumphs. Sometimes on mistakes. There’s always a lesson to be learned, or I can find a a solution or a new approach to a problem.

This time around, though, it was a reflection of how my writing career has evolved and mutated over the last 10 years. It’s been a long, interesting trip. To say the least. A few ups, as many (maybe even more) downs, and a gradual change in focus.

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