Writing Muscles

In the course of my more than 400 entries on this blog, I have alluded to the fact I teaching public relations and communication classes at a college level. Approximately one week from now another semester of classes begins. Two of the four classes I will be teaching pertain to writing. In other communication-related classes I have certainly touched on writing, including its importance, the venues in which writing is particularly effective, and how those different venues require different styles. But I always covered that information on the assumption that my students knew how to write well. I might add that, sadly, this was not always the case. 

For the coming semester what I will be attempting to impart on the students will be very basic: many of the fundamentals of writing. I anticipate a challenge. I say that not so much as a reflection on the students who I have every confidence will work hard and strive to do well. The challenge is about me and how well I am able I am to instill within the students: (1) a lasting familiarity with the rules and guidelines of decent writing; and (2) an equally-lasting appreciation that writing well is not a some-time thing, but an act that needs constant attention and nurturing. To continue to be a good writer, then one must continue to write.

Among other things, one way I spend my free time is going to the gym. I go there not with goal of one-day of becoming Mister Universe. (That ship has long sailed.) Rather, I go there to try and keep my muscles active. This is important, especially if I want to have any chance of enjoying an active life when I enter my senior years. I believe we have writing muscles, too, that require just as much attention. Writing remains a vital way to communicate no matter the venue or technology we use. It does not matter that the great majority of us will never become great writers. But what is important is that we strive to be good ones.