"Writing is a skill, not a talent."

According to Catherine Coffin, an Author in Writing, Speaking, & Communication skills for Health Professionals by the Health Care communications Group, “Writing is a skill, not a talent.  It can be learned, but you must practice to become proficient” (p. 73).  In chapter 4 of this book, Coffin offers many very good tips on how to become a better writer and the importance of a first draft.  The first problem Coffin addressed was getting started.  I believe that for most people, as well as myself getting started is normally a big challenge.  Coffin stated “We procrastinate because the dread of staring at the blank page or computer screen while surrounded by piles of books, reprints, and note cards is overwhelming” (p.74).  Coffin suggested to free-write in order to begin, she said to just sit down and write for 20 minutes without checking spelling, grammar, data or references.  After the 20 minutes you are likely to have a good start on your paper and at that point are able to begin editing and organizing your material.  I believe that this technique will be very helpful to me in the future in order to begin a paper.  In the past, I have found that once I actually get started on my paper, the rest of it comes easy, the hardest part is finding where to begin.

Other issues that Coffin addressed are overuse of passive voice, too many nouns, and structure and organization.  Coffin explains why it is important to write in a more active voice rather than passive voice, which is another area in which I struggle with.  She states “Active and passive do not refer to tense (that is, to past-tense or present tense verbs); rather, writing done in the active voice makes it clear to the reader who or what is performing the action in your sentences” (p. 75).  The next issue she addressed was over using nouns.  Often times, people believe that adding extra words to make their sentences longer and fill up more space is the correct way to write, but actually using verbs abundantly will shorten your sentences and make them clearer.  Coffin also addresses how to organize your paper.  It is important to organize the paper in a way that is easy for your reader to understand and keeps them interested.  The most important information should be at the beginning and the end of the entire document, and also within each section and paragraph. 

I believe that all of these tips will be helpful to myself and others while constructing papers.