by Effie Moore Salem

Created on: November 12, 2009

The goal in writing is to have something to say and to say it well. That sounds easy but writing is never easy since so much can go wrong from idea to finished article, essay, poem, letter, book or whatever. Tips are a dime a dozen and the best one are the ones you discover about you and your writing as you go along. Often, what works for others will not work for you. Why? Because no two minds work alike; what is important to one is not important to the other.

And minds do tend to get off track! Notice how I have in one short sentence veered somewhat off my intended course? I started out with the intention of telling you how to keep your writing flowing, sentence after sentence, paragraph after paragraph, chapter after chapter, volume 1, volume 2 and so on. I did that, of course but what lead me astray was not keeping my topic firmly in mind.

My mind after finishing the first sentence, the goal in writing is to have something to say and to say it well, went on and expounded on the first sentence as if that was my topic. My mind flowed its own way! That is how to start out with an idea and end up with something entirely different. That realization leads me into tip (1) stay on track. Keep uppermost in your mind the problem you are solving.

Tip (2) is to answer the question, solve the problem or explain what you've just written. Or somehow moving it along without jerks or complete breaks in thought sequences that irritates readers. Sometimes, you discover that you have gone a bit far and your minds wants to amend, to modify, to take part of what you've written. In this particular case, I wanted to add that nothing is perfect and even in best writing, groups of words forming sentences stumble and act awkward at time.

Tip (3) is to get back on track and remember what the topic is. Stop explaining so much and let the thoughts flow and come back to them later and put them in their place and smooth out the wrinkles and the stumbling blocks. You write as you think and whatever interferes with the natural flow of your thoughts on the subject you have chosen will chop your article into a wood pile instead of a work of art. Instead you want an uncluttered path from sentence one to sentence two and sentence three and four.

A fork in the road will lead you away from your continuous journey from beginning to end, but a smooth transition from paragraph to paragraph will be only a slight curve going somewhat to the right or left. Tip no (4) is to hastily list the ideas you want to include in your article since they are all fighting for first place. Then reread what you've written and decide which idea belongs next and so on until you have finished what you have to say. Tip (5) is make some lasting statement about what you've said, something that will be remembered. It isn't polite just to leave without a comment or words that will say, well, that's about it folks. Keep practicing and keep writing.

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