Tip of the Week: Read, Read, Read to Improve Your Writing
When I was completing undergraduate studies in California, I took an advanced writing class. I was consistently pulling B+’s to A-‘s. Because I wanted to earn an A for the class, I gathered up the courage to ask the professor what I was doing wrong and how I could improve. She was quiet for a moment. While she couldn’t put her finger on anything in particular, she did have a suggestion for me: She said, “Read good writers and your writing will likely improve.”
While that advice is over 30 years old, it was recently repeated by Colum McCann, Distinguished Professor of Creative Writing in the Master of Fine Arts program at Hunter College, New York Writers. He writes, “Feel the grammar rather than knowing it. This comes from good reading. If you read enough, the grammar will come.”
The take away? It’s summer time. Hopefully your children are getting a break from science, history, and math. They’ve got some leisure time so get them into a summer reading program through a local library. If there isn’t one, create your own. Shop Exodus Books. They’ve got a great selection of literature and are running a summer sale. And if you do shop Exodus, you can use the discount code, Egbert2017 for an additional discount of $5 off $50.
Read, read, read to improve your writing!
That’s the tip of the week!
Curt Bumcrot, MRE
