Journal # 14 - Inner Writer

To what extent are people born writers? How much are they able to cultivate the writer within through education and experience?
What activities and experiences can you engage in, in order to develop your inner writer? What part of your past has best helped you become the writer you are now? How motivated are you to continue developing your writing ability over a lifetime?

I do not believe that people are born writers. Writing is something that is developed over time and with various forms of experience. A passion for writing can be developed at a young age. Many young children will enjoy telling stories, making them up and some children may want to write them down, so they can be told more than once. A passion for writing often comes from a passion for reading. Some people may read something, and think, hey, I can write something like that. To develop your inner writer, it is best to read as much as possible. A lot of the work I had done in Elementary school has inspired me to continue writing, as well as the teachers.

Young children have a lot to say, and usually want to tell everyone around them. They have huge imaginations, and use them, daily. Their use of imagination and creativity can make for some pretty interesting stories. Many people are able to keep their imagination alive by actively reading. Reading a variety of different types of texts helps to nuture your inner writer. It helps you to learn different styles of writing, different words to use, and provides you with different points of views. All of this information can be used as research to help develop your own personal writer. This also helps you to define what style of writing you are most comfortable with.

Throughout elementary school, reading and writing has always been a large part of my school career, and remains to be. An interest in reading was introduced to me at a young age, and I have loved it ever since. The part I loved most about being able to read was that I could read more and spell more than my brother (who is five years older) was able to. He hated it. I loved it. My love for writing came with my love for storytelling. I loved to tell stories. I would come up with some pretty strange ideas, and make them into stories with characters, a plot and setting. A lot of my teachers have also inspired me throughout. They have always told me how well I wrote, using proper grammar and punctuation. They also praised me on the content of my stories. Every step of the way, they were always encouraging me to write more, and often as possible.

I believe that I will continue to write throughout my entire lifetime. It is something that I enjoy doing and will continue to enjoy. I find writing to be an escape for me. It is a place where I am able to get everything out into the open, and just be me. Completely me. Sure, my writing may be judged, and some may not like it. Do I care? No. It’s my writing. For me. I write for me. If I do not like what I have wrote, then no one else will either. If I do like what I have wrote, then there is hopefully at least one other person who does as well.