On Writing ( Part 2 )

Mi unica hija is poised to go into serious writing and so I am passing on some tools of the trade like I am sharing a simple gift to my beloved scion.
For some parts of the weekend, I had to find time to go back to reading my favorite great writers.
I have focused on Stephen King and his memoirs of the craft and so this sharing is also inspired by his experience.

On top of our writing kit is mastery of language: wide vocabulary and correct grammar.
This is the reason why they say that you cannot be a writer if you are not a voracious reader.
Grammar is, of course, learned like anything.
It is said that to write we start with writing one true sentence.
And a sentence is composed of the subject noun and the predicate verb.
To be able to express what we mean, we group the sentences into a coherent paragraph.
We call this messaging as in text messaging. See, it is very simple, really.

I guess, the magic of writing is in the style. Style can be learned as well.
And again, that is why it is best to read and read or go to school for it.
I like the style of Ernest Hemingway.
There is brilliance in his simple sentences.
Of contemporary writers and political pundits in the Philippines, we see original and refreshing styles in the writings of Marites Danguilan Vitug, Conrado de Quiros, Rina Jimenez- David and Randy David.

We write what we know. In this sense, writing is authoritative.
I am able to write about issues and concerns of women because I have spent half my life working with women.
I am able to pepper my writing with sociology and law because I went to various universities for it, here and abroad.
But, I am much pleased that we have developed a technology to make possible citizen journalism through social media ( Facebook, Twitter, You Tube, etc).
This has really democratized communication for everyone. As well, we have developed Knowledge Management (KM) as a scientific tool for communication and making information useful.

Is there money in writing? Yes and No.
There is money of course, if you get to be like J.K.Rowling of the Harry Potter fame or Stephen King or John Grisham or Thomas Harris or Philip Roth or any one of the bestsellers.
Our local daily papers have been thriving more on advertising placements and if the circulation is not that wide, there is not much income here.
And so, for columnists, writing will be more like a vocation or a mission.
Therefore, marketing is crucial for a newspaper to survive.

For example, in most universities, I find only one copy each of the local dailies for hundreds of students who are paying for library products and services.
Universities have more than one library so these schools should have several copies.
One of my banks has cut costs by unsubscribing from a local newspaper subscription.
I found the decision pathetic and I do not wish to be in account with a bank that is not interested in the local current daily composition so I closed my account there, among other reasons.

We have just finished writing the draft of an 80 page or so Guidebook on the UN Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) for Shari’a court judges.

To be able to write it, we had to study this United Nations convention by heart and we had to travel all over Mindanao and talk to many women and men plus some experts as part of the research and collection of data.

This kind of writing can be categorized under technical writing for a specific audience.
Still, making the writing interesting to capture the attention of the readers is a constant challenge.
 
The challenge was to capture into words or prose significant human experiences and material cultural practices and emotions in a distinctive style.
In this sense, one must have the inclination or interest to listen to stories of women and men from all kinds of persuasions and political affiliations and social classes.
Most important, one must like the topic or theme because the gestation and composition could be long and drawn out across time.

Writing is an art through prose or magical language; a distillation of our thoughts through words and a representation of reality as we perceive it.
But, I believe that some are really gifted with a love for words more than the others.
For these people, the development of this craft is fun and free and by choice.