Learning to write [S. Worthen

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It's commonly said that it takes at least a million words of practice before one's writing starts to become presentable. The quip is most commonly used for fiction writing, but I recently realized how true it is of any writing.

Last week, my father dug up emails we'd exchanged back in '94. I was writing about my time at Smith. There were all sorts of interesting details about my life that I'd forgotten, but what struck me most was how immature my writing was. It was clunky, full of repetitious use of language which added nothing to meaning. In the genre of casual email-writing, at least, I have earned my million words of improvement.

P.S. One of the events I'd managed to forget (how?!) was that Madeleine L'Engle had visited campus that year and given a talk in the chapel, which I attended. (She was a graduate of Smith.) She died on Thursday, as a great many of my f'list have mourned.

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There are 8 comments on this entry. (Reply.)

Those emails were fun to read through! I also noticed how much your writing has changed. However, rather than thinking it was "bad" compared to now, I think it just shows how the way we express ourselves changes so much from adolescence through adulthood. Patterns of speech and dominant concerns evolve without us even realizing it.

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That's true. Also the goals of writing change. So much had changed for me that year - it was the first time I was trying to keep my family updated primarily via email rather than via casual conversation. International phone calls are so much cheaper for us than they were back then, whether or not we use them as often as we could. Those emails reflect the awkward balance between trying to keep you updated and trying to do faint justice to how busy I was then.

Now I know it's easier to pick and choose, to concentrate on the most interesting stories and briefly list the rest rather than doing a halfway job on all of it.

But yes, it really was interesting to see what I was doing - and how much of it I've both fogotten and remembered.

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The kicker about that first million words is that they can't be just any words. They have to be the absolute best you can manage. They have to be words you pour your guts into.

The other kicker (for me, at least) is that I'm never sure I've reached the million mark. So I keep writing and getting better, reading what I thought was good, laughing, writing and getting better, chasing that millionth word.

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It's true I didn't care so much about writing the write words in my earlier days of letter writing (I suspect), but I've cared about it enough and written enough correspondance over the years, that I'm certain I must be nearing that number (I know, it's enormous), whether or not I've achieved it, in casual and formal letter writing, primarily in email.

P.S. Should I still bother to read over your ms. version from several months ago, or has it changed to much to bother now?

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P.S. Should I still bother to read over your ms. version from several months ago, or has it changed to much to bother now?

The end has changed significantly. I'm much happier with the new ending. Mostly I've added to the middle, tying up more plot threads and making it less choppy.

So yes. I guess it has changed a lot. Would you still be willing to read it if I send along the newer version, or are you swamped with other things? It's okay if you're busy. Believe me, I know how it goes. Next week I'll be hit with Hell Quarter myself.

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I'm still happy to read it and I've finally settled into a pattern with the semester so I know I can put aside the time for it soon.

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Thanks so much! I just sent it your way.

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It is always interesting to see how we've matured over the years. Of course, I'm still waiting for that to happen.

And I am most definitely in mourning for Ms. L'Engle. Her books were pivotal events for me and I have delighted in passing my copies down to my children. The world is a little dimmer for her loss.

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Learning to write

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October