One of the biggest challenges at the start of each school year is shaking off the rust that summer creates on our writing skills. Summer is long, and we often get so caught up in running away from school work that we forget that practice makes progress—especially when it comes to writing. Dr. Armstrong’s words echo in my head whenever I’m feeling like the best thing for my writing skills is to give my pen a rest: “In order to improve your writing, you must read and write, write and read, write some more, read some more, and then do it again.” Simple and repetitive, but true. The worst thing we can do for ourselves next semester is to abandon our writing over the summer.
Here are four great steps for preventing that summer rust:
1. Read Good Books
When you read good books of all genres, you observe and absorb effective strategies for communicating provocative, interesting or important messages in writing. While good books can include fiction, your summer reading list can also include more than just novels! Try reading academic books and peer-reviewed articles from your field of study. It will not only introduce you to arguments that experts in your field are writing about, but it will also introduce you to the writing style of your field. Just like in our everyday communication, we mirror the writing styles of those we read most often. Keep a running list in a writing journal of writing characteristics to emulate and stylistic nuances that you appreciated. Outline compelling arguments whose structure or articulation you think will be useful in your own writing. Use that notebook as a wealth of resources for when the school year comes around! You’ll be prepared with notes on what a strong, clear and convincing argument looks like.
2. Read Bad Books
Reading good books is helpful for good writing, and reading bad books is helpful for avoiding bad writing. Pick up a trashy young adult novel (I’m looking at you, Twilight!), and as you read it, keep a journal of bad “writing habits” that you see. Try to engage with every part of the writing. That is, instead of focusing on the low hanging fruit (grammar, excessive adjectives, repetitiveness), try to critique the “flow” of the story, the character development, the type of message being communicated, dialogue and even the setting. Reading bad books will help you identify the type of writing that you should not emulate and will help you develop a critical eye for bad writing. It will not only assist you in finding errors in your own writing but will also help you critically engage with your own work.
3. Journal
In order to sharpen your skills as a writer you must, of course, continue writing! Any kind of writing is better than no writing! If you keep a journal for the purpose of improving your writing, you should try to intentionally write more than a record of your day. Try to explore ideas, criticize something in the news, and record your own opinions. This type of argumentative writing applies nicely to academic writing and will give you practice writing short, concise and honest arguments that you believe in. You could try choosing a prompt to write on every day, but instead of focusing on getting it “perfectly academic,” think about it like a brainstorming activity. Your goal shouldn’t be to create a journal full of thoughts that you would be willing to turn into a paper, but to continue engaging with ideas, and to further develop your writing style. Here are a few suggestions for what you can journal about over the summer:
- Analyze a bible verse.
- Write about your goals and the method you will use to achieve your goals.
- Write about something you’re grateful for.
- Write about what you value, and why.
- Write about something you’re curious about.
- Write about something in the news that you support or disagree with and explain why.
- Analyze a quote from a book you’re reading and explain why you chose it.
4. Review Your Old Pieces of Writing
This may sound weird, but reviewing your old writing and editing it is extremely valuable because every edit you make on a paper is one that can be used to improve all other papers. Work through your papers with a critical eye, ensuring to note repeated errors or stylistic inconsistencies. Then try to avoid those same mistakes in your future work.
Here’s to a summer of reading and writing, and writing and reading! I hope to see you next year in the Writing Studio!