Writing Demystified
Find your unique voice––clear, simple tools for everyone.
In the course of teaching writing to adults over the past eight years, I have developed some techniques to allow even the most trepidant of writers access to their inner storyteller--with some amazing and important results. The goal of this site is to help everyone who wishes it to unlock their creative potential for the language we were born with (or perhaps adopted upon arrival in an English-speaking nation). From the severely dyslexic to those who remember some horrid English teacher shaming them for doing something “wrong,” all you who’ve abandoned your language can find some healing here. And the best part: language, even written language is intuitive. Just as babies learn to speak without being formally taught, so writing will begin to “teach” you grammar, even in the absence of formal instruction. Really. I’ve seen it work even with the most “hopeless” of adult students. Journaling alone will create a stronger grasp of grammar rules.
Here's the thing: we were born to use language as individually as we are able to dress, tattoo ourselves, speak, walk and live. Admittedly, there is a certain amount of sameness to all these things among humans who share a culture. There is also a great amount of individuality. While we are in school, especially public schools in America (although I think it's true for other nations as well) we are encouraged to conform to a very rigid idea of what makes good writing: an idea any professional, successful writer will tell you is crap. What makes good writing, in fact, is the individual perceptions, the unique observations of an individual and the way she chooses to present her point of view. We all do this in speech, all the time, every day; yet, when it comes to writing for some reason (mostly a system of standardized testing that doesn’t know how to reward or evaluate radical differences) as children we often get punished for our creativity.
Stories are the backbone of all human things. Telling yours contributes to the general knowledge of the world, and gives others a chance to feel what they feel knowing they are not alone. In spite of our silly ideas that no one understands us, the truth is there is always another soul out there who gets you. No matter how angelic or evil a person thinks she is, there is another out there who understands.
Writing changes the world, saves the world, helps the world grow. It is necessary, vital and important ... for everyone. When you experience and share, you give another person a gift, and from it, gain a very important gift for yourself. As a test, try this out: write three pages of whatever is on your mind, even if it is nothing, every day for a month. See what happens.
No Rules
Most people think writing is a talent you either have or you don’t. Everyone can learn to write, and everyone can learn to improve her communication. It is also true that the “rules” of grammar, punctuation and spelling, while useful, have been arbitrarily decided and are broken by successful writers all the time.
Writing is often taught as if there is a right and wrong way to do it. We are told we must learn to spell before we can write. We are told we must understand all the parts of speech before we can write. We are inundated with guidelines, formulas, regulations, and red marks. These ideas are false. Writing is a form of communication, and as Julia Cameron observes, “Writing is like breathing … we all come into this life as writers. We are born with a gift for language …. Words give us power.” I believe writing comes first, and the “rules” come later. In the spirit of individual expression, the first practice of creativity is “There are no rules.”