Practicing Your Craft

Sometimes writers get into the mindset that only certain types of writing are useful or honorable. They begin to feel that the only valuable writing time is that time spent on a specific literary project such as a novel or essay or poem. They consider other types of non-literary writing as banal. However, if you're truly a writer, all types of writing should be useful to you. If you love writing, then stringing words together for any purpose should be valuable, because it helps you hone your craft. There are many types of writing activities that help sharpen a writer's skills. These activities range from letter writing to blogging to journaling to writing exercises and sketches. It's all valuable. It doesn't have to be literary. It doesn't have to be published. It doesn't even have to be read by anyone. A writing practice means just that - practicing your craft. And you can't effectively practice your craft if you exclude any opportunity to write anything. It should all be grist for the mill and no writing should ever be dismissed as useless. Anything that forces you to put words together in a coherent way that expresses thoughts and feelings effectively is useful and is time well spent. Your apprenticeship in writing should be broad, varied, and infinitely challenging. Every day presents you with multiple opportunities to practice your craft. Take advantage of them and your skills as a writer will grow exponentially.