Acronyms are fun. Coming up with acronyms is fun. Screwing around with acronyms is fun, too. That’s why I decided to do it again today. Tee hee.
But before I get into interpreting the new acronym in this article’s title (and I do hope you noticed that it’s new), allow me to ruminate a bit upon the purpose of said article — and of every other article on WILAWriTWe.
When Aaron first asked me to join Unstressed Syllables with a weekly column, he gave me free rein to write pretty much whatever I wanted to, as long as my ramblings related to writing. (I mean, I could regale you with my adventures in the wonderful world of crochet, but you might think that doesn’t really fit a writing blog.)
The column was to appear weekly, but I needn’t confine my musings to lessons gleaned from a mere seven-day. After all, none could guarantee I would learn a brand-shiny-new writing lesson every single week — so if I were to write a weekly column, I must needs expand my subject matter base.
So that’s what I’ve done. Over the last eight months, I shared with you, dear readers, various and sundry tales of how and where I’ve acquired scribbling wisdom and then tried applying it. Your feedback in comments and in person has let me know that I’ve been somewhat successful in communicating to you my woes and triumphs. I know we writers are supposed to be good with words and all, but I truly can’t tell you how encouraging it is to know that I’ve touched lives with the words I have managed to write.
This week, dearest inklings, I’m hoping you’ll be kind enough to return the favor. What I Hope To Learn About Writing This Week (aha!) is whatever you might like to share with me and with your fellow readers.
That’s right! It’s your turn! Get into the commenting action and treat us to a writing tidbit you’ve picked up recently. Tell us the tale of writing battles past, whether you fought and won or fought and learned. Or, if you have no particular storying story to tell, let me know what I’ve missed so far in weekly WILAWriTWes. What writing points would you like to see me cover? What writing conundrum have I failed to mention? What’s the circumference of the earth at the equator, and what does it have to do with the price of eggs?
The floor is yours, dear inklings. Let the holding forth begin!
(And that’s WIHTLAWriTWe.) 🙂
What a clever idea Courtney. I love your column. Like the rest of US, I read it via the feed reader in my email so I’m guilty of not often reaching out and telling you and Aaron how much I appreciate your posts.
The thing I’m learning (and practicing) at the moment is using story telling in my blog posts. I love telling stories orally a but it’s just these past few weeks that I’ve become more aware of using it when I’m writing.
Thanks so much for reading, El! I, too, have been guilty of RSS-style blog-reading, so I understand where you’re coming from. No worries — an occasional shout-out is perfectly fine. 🙂
It wasn’t until I started writing for UnSyl that I became consciously aware of using storytelling for blogposts. I’ve been practicing it for years on my own blog and just didn’t realize that’s what I was doing. Now that I’m here at UnSyl, I’m tagging along after Aaron’s example and paying more attention to what I’m about. 😉
What I learned, and have to keep relearning over and over again, is that whole writing every day thing is just like exercise. The more you do it, the easier it is. Stop for a few days, even for really good reasons, and get ready for a small mountain climb to get back to where it’s even easy to start it let alone keep going. Yeah, it’s obvious, but it still seems to be the thing I learn the most. It’s sorta like quitting smoking in reverse; easy to quit, hard to start up again.
I appreciate the blog as well but also suffer from reading it via RSS feed which doesn’t make commenting easy. That’s just me being lazy, though, so I’m going to remedy it!
Ohhhhh man, do I ever relate to this one, Josh. What with the vacation in Colorado and the upheaval of job-loss over the last month, I haven’t written a word for my work-in-progress — and yes, it’s exactly like reverse-smoking-quitting! (There has GOT to be an easier way of saying that.)
I’m just gonna have to quit the non-writing cold turkey. This drought must end!!!
I wonder what they put in that RSS feed, because it makes me lazy too. I enjoy your weekly posts Courtney. I almost always learn something, and I always smile. I think both you and Aaron do a great job of parable-ing (I don’t think that is a word, and as a tribute to you I will create it). You have an ability to take a personal story, turn it on its head, and wring from it a new, insightful lesson. Thanks for your efforts.
Thanks, Bryce! As I mentioned to El above, it’s only since I’ve been with UnSyl that I’ve started parable-ing (tribute gladly accepted!) consciously. It’s quite encouraging to hear that those efforts are having an effect — be it learning or smiling or a combination of the two! I’m realizing more and more how important it is to share something of my Self in order to touch the hearts of readers. And I always feel like I learn more from my readers than I ever “teach.” 🙂