As a teacher, I tell my students that a piece is well-written when it makes the readers want to read it from start to finish. That it is beautiful when it has this particular rhythm which is pleasant to the eyes, and ears. That it elegant when it carefully sways in varied lengths with changing tempo. I also remind them to always remember the 6+1 Traits of Effective Writing: ideas, organization, sentence fluency, word choice, voice, conventions and good presentation.
I’ve read from a book (this is embarrassing, I forgot the title and the author of the book) that:
“In writing, you are the seamstress and words are your tools. And your goal is to make a beautiful piece by weaving words together carefully.”
Did I make it sound that writing is too easy for me? No. I find writing challenging. In my years of writing, I was never really contented with my work. Often, when I see my stories published, I would say “it would have been better if it was written this way….” It’s a bad habit I know, and I am glad that having this blog taught me to be happy with my own writing; and that my readers are my friends- they will always understand me when I make mistakes, but will correct me so.
I remember the feature story I wrote for Brew magazine in UP Baguio years ago when I was still a student. It was a story which really embarrassed me. I featured a place which I was not really familiar with, and so I stuffed my lines with adjectives. And upon realizing how poor my writing was, how I wanted then to get all the distributed copies back. And from that, I told myself that I should know what to write because in doing so, I could build my reader’s trust and be happier with my work.
With my hands, I pray to weave beautiful words. How about you? What do you make with your hands?
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