Why write

“OK”, you say, “ so I can improve if I try, but why should I bother? Why should I write well? I’m not going to be a professional writer.

In the first place, writing helps us explore our own thoughts and feelings. Writing forces us to articulate our ideas, to discover what really think about an issue. For example, let’s suppose your faced with a difficult decision and that the arguments pro and con jumbled in your head. You begin to write down all the pertinent facts and feelings, and suddenly, you begin to see that you do, indeed, have stronger arguments for one side of the question than the other. Once you “see” what you are thinking, you may then scrutinize you opinions for any logical flaws or weaknesses and revise your argument accordingly. In other words, writing lay outs our ideas for examination, analysis, and thoughtful reaction Thus when we write, we (and the world at large) see who we are, and what we stand for, much more clearly. Moreover writing can provide a record of our thoughts that we may study and evaluate in a way that conversation cannot. In short, writing well enables us to see and know ourselves, our feelings, ideas and opinions – better.