Taking Time to Write

When I was still an undergrad, I abhorred writing. I never got excellent or superior marks on subjects where professors required term papers and assessed students through essays. Simply not being good at it, I thought I could dodge it at all times. But I was wrong. Last May, when I finally decided to start working on my thesis' manuscript for the preliminary defense, I was left with no other choice but do it. The problem with voracious readers is they can clearly distinguish good from bad writing. Being one, I tried my best that it would be something worth reading. The manuscript was finished after seven revisions. The result wasn't bad but it wasn't that good either. Last July, I was done with the preliminary defense and now hope that I could have the final defense before this academic year ends.

Having realized how important writing is and hoping that I'm not yet too old to learn its rudiments, I've bought and read books on it. The list includes Zinsser's On Writing Well, Landy's Seven Rules for Writers, Waddell's The Art of Styling Sentences, Levy's Rhethoric in Thought and Writing, and Carillo's English Plain and Simple.