Stronger and Wiser

The writer that made the biggest lasting impression was John Leo and his essay “On Good Writing”. When you read something and it leaves a lasting impression, you know it has affected you. When you can think back and you understand a piece of writing then you find yourself using the tips in yourself becoming more like the writer that was described.

Leo says, “All of us weary writers who dance around their subject, protecting friends, bending facts to push a cause.” (p. 117) When I read this I knew that I was one of the writers who is guilty of dancing around the subject at hand. I am now going to make a conscious effort to get straight to the point in my writing, but it is a work in progress and besides when we beat around the bush we make something appear longer... Of course I am kidding about beating around the bush to make something longer on purpose. It happens on accident, but I am going to try and correct myself.

Leo comments, “Many of us come under the spell of a great writer and imagine our job is to sound like him or her. Or we try on different prose styles like articles of clothing.” (p. 119) I know I am guilty of this all time, like right now I am trying to be more straight forward because I agree that when you are more straight forward your writing is stronger. When I think of writing I think how much I dread it because I do not know how I want to write it. It is definitely like trying on articles of clothing. I bet I try on shirts 4 times before I even decide that is the shirt that I want to wear. I will wear it for a little while but then I get a change of heart and change real quick. For me I have noticed that my paragraphs can be like articles of clothing, some times each paragraph's style is different than the other.

Leo's last paragraph I feel is the most direct, he tells you exactly what writing is. Leo says, “But writing isn't a personal or private enterprise. It's an attempt to change consciousness and change the world.” (p. 120) When I write my goal is always to convince someone to see the world as I see it, we are always trying to persuade someone to have an understanding from our eyes. Leo's finals words are “Writing is power. A force in the world. If you write well, you can have an impact.” (p.120) This hit me the hardest it made me realize that no matter how unimportant something is in my views, it has the potential to have an impact on the world.

I think this one impacted me the most because I found myself guilty of everything he said. I also thought his method of being a better writer was the most fitting for my views on how writing should be. When he said to write how we speak, it made so much sense to me. We have to write the way we speak otherwise our writing really is not our writing. We focus too hard on sounding like great writers instead of learning what our own writing style is. We all begin to adopt someone else's writing instead of blending all the styles into our own.