learn to write - write to learn
daily blog #67
I'm a public speaker and a blogger. So people usually ask me which one is harder. Most of us are compelled to believe that public speaking is more vulnerable because you don't get to hide behind your computer screen anymore.
But I think writing is a more vulnerable activity.
Unlike public speaking where the event is usually live and there isn't a recording of your talk, your writing stays online for a looong time (until you decide to take it down).
With writing, you are basically presenting yourself, naked, with words. And all these people online, many of whom you don't know, are staring at you, looking for grammatical mistakes, a fallacy, a wrong statistics.
This is why, the entire process of writing: plan, research, draft, re-research, edit, and publish is such an incredible learning experience.
In order to protect your online reputation, you rigorously learn about all of these interesting topics ranging from creator economy, Vietnamese immigration statistics, to wolf's hunting pattern.
In order to write decently, you have to learn decently.
Yesterday, a reader asked me if I have a general piece of advice for writing/ blogging. And that took me by surprise. "Am I already qualified as a 'writing guru'?"
Maybe. I'm still learning to write better. But if I have to give one piece of advice to all the aspiring writers/ bloggers out there, I'll encourage you to write about something you want to learn more about.
Michael S. Roth - the president of Wesleyan University visited UWC Changshu in the fall of 2017 and was meeting with a group of 10 students, chosen by counselors. I was lucky to be one of them.
Among a lot of things that Michael talked about over the course of one hour, I remember, till this day, these 2 sentences:
If you have a good idea, talk about it. If you have a lot of good ideas, write something decent.
I'll add this: If you have a lot of good questions, start blogging.
When I'm blogging, I'm not just learning to write, I'm writing to learn.