Enthralled Magazine Vol 1 Issue 2 - Reflect

Practice, practice, and more practice. Age seven to present. I wrote many
more plagiarized stories. I began writing original stories. I wrote horrendous
poems and eventually passably good ones. I wrote four novels, all of which
are in drawers where they belong. Eventually I wrote two that were
publishable. Much of what I write today I still consider practice.
Dogged adherence to rules. Ages 18 to 25. I had a charismatic college English
teacher who excoriated his students for using the verb “to be.” He was
merely trying to encourage us to use more vigorous verbs and to avoid the
passive voice. However, I
followed his advice so literally
that for years my writing sounded
stilted and convoluted. Finally, I
realized that “is” and “was” are
not evil spawn of the devil but
functional words when used
judiciously. Still, that period of
single-minded rule-adherence
made me a better writer. Learn
the rules of your craft, make them
your own, and then let them go.