Essay on Importance of Writing
Number of words: 1372
Writing is the activity of composing text. As human society developed, there was an increasing need to develop writing. It was created for the purpose of maintaining culture, keeping history, and codifying knowledge. Over time, writing has broadened to include many other aspects. It has become an increasingly necessary life skill, as discussed in this document.
Writing is essential for several reasons. First is the most basic need, which is to remember. People write things down to remember them in the future. For instance, an individual could write down shopping needs to purchase later or meeting to attend. The human memory is subject to a significant number of distractions which could distort memory or not remembering the memory at all. Therefore, writing reinforces the knowledge In the brain, which increases the chances of remembering the information piece. This has happened to all individuals who wish they had noted something down as they could have benefited from that information. As children, all individuals are introduced to writing as a critical component that will apply to learning and almost all other aspects of life. Writing to remember fosters learning and not missing preplanned arrangements.
Another importance of writing is that it helps the author escape reality to an ideal world. Not all writing is meant for accurate descriptions of past events. Some writing is used to portray what the writer imagines themselves as or reflect what they’d want. Joan Didion discusses the importance of keeping a notebook in which she states that writing is not essential for her as an ”accurate factual record of what I have been doing or thinking ”(Joan, pg 131). Instead, writing for her is a means of depicting how she would have loved the events to happen. She finds no reason to have “pointless entrys” in her writing because the distinction between what happens and what might have happened does not matter for her writing purposes. An individual can use writing to remember what it was like being them some time back. For instance, a person may note down something said by a stranger, not that the mentioned words are essential, or the person who said them is essential (Joan, pg 131). The written information may be there to remind the writer of what they were experiencing at that time, which may not relate to the actual meaning of the written words.
Writing does not have to accurately describe what is seen because it matters only to the author how they perceived the situation since the writing is for them. Writing is keeping bits of mind strings that cannot be fully understood by others but give meaning only to the writer. Writing is critical because it helps people record meanings according to how they perceive the world around them. It is a means of people expressing who they are, even if not to the public. Didion mentions that often, It is only young children or the very old that are allowed to recount and their dreams or imagine events as they want while dwelling upon themselves (Joan, pg 131). Everyone else is expected to conform to the expectations of others in situations that happen in real life. Therefore, writing is an essential part for anyone since it is where an individual can dutifully record what they observe, which is always derived from their individual points of view and does not have to be subject to anyone’s scrutiny.
Writing is a critical part of keeping in touch. Often people forget who they were and the previous personas they’ve had over the years. It is vital that humans accept who they were in their different life stages, or the issues will come back to haunt them. By writing, individuals can effectively keep in touch with who they used to be. Over time, people are prone to forgetting things they once perceived as unforgettable such as betrayal or love. Therefore, writing is critical for this purpose since someone else’s writing cannot help anyone else keep in touch with themselves. Writings have attached meaning from the writers. While an individual stares at writing that they wrote, they can get a general notion of what was happening or had happened when they were writing (Klimova and Frydrychova, pg 10). Regular writing helps one identify and develop their own writing style. King mentions that writing is essential because it allows an individual read well and also write better(Stephen, pg 222). It creates intimacy and ease in the process of writing.
Writing is a critical component of being a good reader. It helps in developing thought processes by improving problem-solving and analytical skills (Kurt, pg 37). Regular writing develops skills of conveying opinions and voice tone exploration. Additionally, the more an individual writes, the more they learn. Writing is among the two most important things for becoming a good writer and reading. King mentions that to write well, an individual has to read and write a lot (Stephen, pg 221). Reading a lot is critical in identifying lousy writing and good writing. As such, a writer who reads a lot has better chances of avoiding writing mistakes since they learn from bad writing and also from good writing. Writing also helps the writer identify a writing style they are comfortable using. Additionally, writing helps widen vocabulary. Writing facilitates interaction with new words and new methods of utilizing varying language styles(Klimova and Frydrychova, pg 10). As such, an individual can employ a diverse vocabulary in delivering messages with clarity and detail.
Regular writing helps develop planning, organization and improve concentration. Rationalizing thoughts promotes increasing productivity in other areas. Research shows that writing stimulates neurons in the brain that support the completion of other tasks(Klimova and Frydrychova, pg 9). For instance, writing goals or objectives increases the chances of meeting them. Writing, especially creative writing, fosters the use of imagination. As mentioned earlier, writing can help develop skills for integrating inventive ideas with what is observed, which improves a person’s descriptive skills. Creative writing also boosts health and feelings of fulfillment and happiness(Klimova and Frydrychova, pg 10). Another advantage of writing is that it strengthens confidence. Writing develops the ability to communicate, which facilitates self-esteem and confidence improvements efficiently. It creates the ability to communicate complex opinions and fosters persuasive skills. With good writing skills, an individual can communicate with a larger audience than in phone or face-to-face conversations. Good writing is not about writing a lot of words but instead communicating clearly and concisely-skills developed by writing.
Writing fosters writing skills that prevent poor first impressions. A significant number of readers develop an adverse reaction to writing as soon as they spot a grammatical or spelling mistake(Kurt, pg 37). Punctuation, spelling, and grammatical errors create an immediate negative opinion from the reader. Therefore, writing helps minimize the chances for missing errors that might draw negative conclusions from the readers. Another benefit of writing is that it helps clear an individual’s head. It has a calming effect on the mind when unwinding events. Writing down ideas and reading them later helps in developing fresh perceptions of the ideas. It greatly enhances the self-reflective process enabling better decision-making. Finally, writing is important because it can build discipline. To become a good writer, a lot of writing is required, as mentioned by King. Creating a writing routine and sticking to it is a good practice of discipline(Kurt, pg 37). Developing a routine fosters the discipline to see through important matters. Discipline is a prerequisite for success. To achieve anything, discipline is required, which can be built effectively from writing.
To sum up, writing is an important part of human life. All the progress in the world has significantly been facilitated through writing. It develops proper communications skills, better reading skills, and better decision-making. Research has shown that writing has benefits for both physical and mental health. Writing boosts productivity and efficiency in meeting goals and objectives.
Works cited
Didion, Joan. “On keeping a notebook.” Slouching Towards Bethlehem (1968): 131-141.
King, Stephen. “Reading to Write.” 50 essays: A portable anthology (2014): 221-225.
Klimova, Blanka Frydrychova. “The importance of writing.” Paripex-Indian Journal Of Research 2.1 (2012): 9-11.
Wise, Kurt. “The importance of writing skills.” Public Relations Quarterly 50.2 (2005): 37.