I created this blog to write about writing.

I am going to talk, or write, about my writing, your writing and writing in general. I will share some tips and tricks of good writing with you. I will help you develop good communication skills and learn to write effectively; clearly and beautifully.

And what’s more, if you are too busy or too lazy (or both) to do your own writing, then I will do it for you; (let’s take a commercial break…)

… At a very reasonable and affordable price…!

Well, back to writing…

What is writing anyway…?

Writing is a way of, essentially human, communication. There are two basic categories of human communication.

1. One-to-one

   This is when two people are engaged in a conversation and spoken communication is more suited for such occasions. This is necessarily two way communication when using spoken medium. However, one person can ‘write’ to another and then it is one way communication.

2. One-to-many

   This is when one person communicates with two or more people. This can sometimes be two way communications, like when we have a discussion. Nevertheless, it can be one way, especially when addressing a bigger number of people even using spoken medium.

Well, writing is one of the four basic language skills used in human communication. Here is the full list –

1. Listening
2. Speaking
3. Reading
4. Writing

These four skills can be divided into two categories; Receptive skills (Listening and Reading) and Productive skills (Speaking and Writing). The former is used for receiving ideas and the latter for expressing our ideas. People use these skills to communicate with other people.

Naturally, people learn the skills of a language in the order they are given in the list above. Therefore writing is the last language skill a person acquires. However, writing is, perhaps, the most effective mode of communication ever invented by man; and also the longest lasting and most comprehensive. I personally consider writing is more important than speech, (I know it is debatable; your comments are welcome…!) especially in one-to-many communication. Perhaps it is the most important of all the four language skills…!

Why?

Because when you write –

• You express your ideas in a more lasting way. (You can save and keep a written communication more easily than a spoken one. It may even be used as proof later. That is why people ask to have things ‘in writing’.)
  
• You can keep your own pace. (You are not in a hurry. You are sitting where you are comfortable. You don’t see your readers fidgeting, yawning or talking to each other.)
  
• You can re-read what you have written and edit it. (You can add, remove, change and streamline so that the final product conveys ‘exactly the message’ that you wanted to convey. In speech you can’t do that. Sometimes words escape your mouth accidentally and even an elephant can’t pull them back.)
  
• You can check before it goes to the reader and before it is too late. (This way you can be sure what you have written accurately serves its purpose; that is, it says what you want to say, no more, no less, not something else.)
• You can use some decorations which are impossible in speech. (You can use colours, backgrounds, different font faces, sizes and styles, pictures and graphics to enhance your writing.)
  
• You need not worry about stage fright. (You can sit calmly and comfortably and concentrate on what you have to say, instead of worrying about other things, even when you write for a very large audience readership.)
  

There are many other reasons as to why writing is better than speaking. I can go on telling you about the many virtues of writing forever and ever, but neither of us have time for that. Do we?

Well, that is looking at writing from the writers’ (productive) end. In my next post you will see it from the readers’ (Receptive) end…