A Writer's Tasks

Make sure that you type and print the final draft neatly, and use a "Spell Check". You don't want to look silly just because of a typo. Compare the printed version to the first draft. Is it really very different from the first draft? Be honest. If it simply looks like a neater, printed version of the first draft, you probably haven't revised enough.

Proofread for Errors

If you've used a Spell Check, you just need to read the paper very slowly and make sure that you haven't misplaced words or missed anything. When you find a mistake, circle it and fix it before re-printing.

Two Ways to Practice Writing

First of all, let me clear something up real fast: No one is born with a "writer's gene" that makes them write well. Everyone can write- and write well- if they're willing to work at it.

If you're stuck in the idea that you can't write, you just need some practice writing for yourself. Doing writing that no one but you will read makes you much more comfortable when you have to write for someone else.

While there are a lot of ways to go about this, there are two in particular that seem to work best: Journals, and Freewriting.

A Writer's Journal

One piece of advice that I have always remembered and want to share with you is that to write well, you need to write every day. It doesn't even matter how much you write, or what you write about, just as long as you write. Even better, a journal keeps track of thoughts and ideas that you can use in your stories later on.

A writer's journal is like a diary only in that you write in it every day. What is different about it is that you don't just record what happened- although you can do that, too- but instead, you use it to write down descriptions, nice word combinations, fragments from a conversation, or even passages from a book that strike you.

Keep a journal that you like- it can be a notebook, a leather-bound book, or just a folder that you have all your paper in. If it's something that

The copyright of the article A Writer's Tasks in Teaching & Technology is owned by Phebe A. Durand. Permission to republish A Writer's Tasks in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.

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