"Technical writing is a type of writing where the author is writing about a particular subject that requires direction, instruction, or explanation. This style of writing has a very different purpose and different characteristics than other writing styles such as creative writing, academic writing or business writing." Your Dictionary
As a science student writing was one of my greatest challenges; I know some people find themselves under this category. I, at first would convince myself that writing is not meant for everyone, especially those that are science and mathematically inclined but that changed with time as reality began to set in.
Take this from someone that disliked writing that writing professionally, it contributes to making one whole. To be well rounded in any profession, one must learn to write. Why? some may ask, but do not worry, we are going to look at the benefits of writing and how it can help a person grow in their respective profession. This article might often make references with writing as a software engineer or as a technologist, but the article is meant to showcase why writing in any profession is important, thus, it is profession agnostic.
Why should I write?
Different reasons for different folks, right? But we are going to focus on a few benefits of writing professionally.
To re-learn: Writing things down arguably can help us remember the important stuff, and the better our notes are the more likely we are to remember. Just taking note helps make what we have learned stick, having to write about it is even better. While writing, one tends to revisit the topics learned, do even broader research on the topics, while trying to understand the underlying principles in order to be able to explain them in their own terms. This process obliviously helps one memorize the thoughts and even better, one understands the necessary techniques or approaches to the case study. It has been shown that one can hardly go wrong with the writing.
To Share: The power of sharing things learned or personal opinions, cannot be overemphasized. Through sharing, we disseminate information; there could be someone who has been struggling to understand a certain topic and will have their "aha" moment when they read what you have shared. Also, we benefit from sharing as it gives others insight into our thoughts and that, they can leverage on to help improve or correct some possibly misguided notions. Sharing is arguably the easiest way of letting people in and creating an avenue for collaboration and growth.
To attract: While sharing our write-ups, we end up attracting people of like minds. Going by the saying that goes, “two people that have the same wants are two people that should be friends", we need a community to grow faster. We attract different categories of people needed in our growth, starting with mentees, colleagues to mentors and role models.
To affirm: No one is a compendium of knowledge, thus the need to affirm. While writing, sharing and attracting, we connect with people who are willing to collaborate and share in our findings and inventions. The need for affirmation comes in when most members of our community support or contribute to our work. You know the feeling when you make a comment on a platform and got some likes, it clears any doubts that might have existed. Affirming what we had written helps attract the validation we crave as humans and it helps encourage us to do more.
To inspire: Having attracted different people with what we shared; we at the same time become a source of inspiration to others. Thoughts like "if she could do it, then I can" are common and found especially among people who are new in some skill acquisition. By inspiring others, we grow the community.
What if I dislike writing?
Like I mentioned in the introductory part of this article, a couple of people or more might feel like they do not like writing or they do not know how to write. I must admit that to some, writing comes naturally, while others would have to make a conscious effort to write and I stand to be corrected. Having said that, you might agree with me that not everything we need or want, come to us naturally, some we have to go after. I will share some of my thoughts and findings on how to start writing especially if you found yourself saying "I dislike writing".
How to cultivate a writing habit.
Decide: Deciding is an obvious starting point. Make a decision and solidify it with why you need to write. Having a fascinating reason, especially one that is tied to your flairs and career growth, will wake you up even when there are no motivations to write. I write them down in a note on my desktop; that way I get to see them often; you can try that.
Begin: After deciding on why and possibly when you want to begin writing, identify a few topics that fascinate you, that obsess you. Write them down; they don’t have to be earth-shattering. Then keep coming back to them, over and over again. You might not be very good at it while starting, but it will get better as you grow. Install grammar check apps and run your writings by them before publishing.
Learn: Learning is a life long process, so we just have to learn on this too. Studying is one of the obvious ways to learn, so study known writers patterns, follow a particular writer's method if you have to or invent yours. The most important note of this point is that you keep getting better, each new article.
Grow: When we learn, growth is inevitable; so we grow. Learning and growing are tied together and I believe in the quote that says "when we stop learning, we stop living", and I add, "what is life when we don't grow?" Growing is boundless, as we grow both in skills, strength, capacity, state of the mind and many others.
When should I write?
The response to this might differ for different kinds of professions and the list can be infinite; so I will be sharing a few, I believe, cut across many professions for a start and they include;When I want to learn something new.
when I have learned something new.
When I have an opinion about something.
When I want to learn more about anything.
When I want to make inquiries.
When I disagree.
When I want to buttress.
Conclusion
It can be seen that not only does writing help us to share information we have with others, it also helps us to know more, help what we have learned stick, get what others think and also encourage others to learn. There is a saying that no one is an island of knowledge, so one cannot say they know it all. Not sharing one's idea can kill the idea or at least prevents the idea from reaching its maximum potential. I will end by saying this "You will never know that you do not know about something if you do not know of its existence".
Originally published at chidimmajuliet.com
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