Journal 14

Journal 14 - Nurturing Your Inner Writer

I can’t see anyone being a "born writer". Some people are born with higher intelligence, some with strength, some with speed, etc. These traits will effect what said person excels in later in life, but someone who is born with a strong set of legs and good coordination is a "Born runner", as these both directly influence the persons’ performance. Writing is something different altogether. Any baby learns to walk regardless of assistance eventually, it’s what we’re built to do. Writing on the other hand is something we teach our children how to do, it’s got almost nothing to do with our natural build. No six year old child is a novelist savant who pumps out top sellers at ten, how we write is almost completely in relation to how we were taught how to write.

This of course brings us to the obvious question of "Well, nobody taught the first person to write how to write, did they?". No, but there’s a difference between being born with a set of writing skills and thousands of years of human experimentation and development. Someone of higher intelligence or creativity may have an easier time writing later in life, but they still need years of teaching and reinforcement before being able to make anything worth mentioning.
The writer I am now is mostly a result of schooling, there’s probably some books I’ve read that have effected my writing level or style.

I’m not particularly motivated to continue the development of my writing, I don’t think I’ll ever be able to write something of value, and If I were to spend time developing a skill of mine I’d probably see better progress on something else