Maturity
One of the most common requests that I get is to write additional stories in the Favor and Tired universes, but almost equally as frequently are requests that I finish my first story, Hotel Room Disturbance. Since I have had a bit of free time recently, I decided to re-read Hotel to see where I had left it.
I have to tell you that I was quite embarrassed when I read it. I still like the theme, but the technical aspects of the writing are absolutely awful. I can't believe that people would have read all the way through it, let alone gave it a high score! After that read through, I knew that I would have to rewrite it, if only to fix the massive numbers of grammatical, typographical and punctuation errors in it.
If this taught me anything, it is that you really do get better as you mature. I do not claim complete credit for my improvement; quite a few people were good enough to point out the flaws in my early works, and my initial editor, Peter Z, spent quite a bit of time trying to educate me on various points of grammar, though I still have some major issues. (Sorry Peter. I know you tried to get me to understand the difference between lay, laid and lie).
Nevertheless, I realized that the experience of writing a few full length novels certainly has improved my technical ability as well as my sense of flow and writing style. I'm not saying that I'm William Shakespeare or anything like that, but when I compare my last works with Hotel, it's clear that I have gotten a hell of a lot better at this.
I'm not saying this to toot my own horn. I'm using this as a lesson in experience and maturity. When I first started my career, I knew that I didn't know what I was doing. Every day, I was sure that my bosses would figure out that I was bluffing my way through everything. A few years later, however, I was hit with the realization that I was pretty much able to answer everyone's questions, usually correctly, and that it was not really a bluff, it was skill.
I feel the same way about my writing. It was not until I just re-read my original story that I finally realized how far I'd come.
In one of the management training courses that I've taken, the instructor went over the four stages of learning:
And the point of all this is that in writing, as in juggling and in my career, I've learned that if you work at what you are doing, and you do something that you really enjoy, you will be able to better yourself far than you ever dreamed possible.
M.
I have to tell you that I was quite embarrassed when I read it. I still like the theme, but the technical aspects of the writing are absolutely awful. I can't believe that people would have read all the way through it, let alone gave it a high score! After that read through, I knew that I would have to rewrite it, if only to fix the massive numbers of grammatical, typographical and punctuation errors in it.
If this taught me anything, it is that you really do get better as you mature. I do not claim complete credit for my improvement; quite a few people were good enough to point out the flaws in my early works, and my initial editor, Peter Z, spent quite a bit of time trying to educate me on various points of grammar, though I still have some major issues. (Sorry Peter. I know you tried to get me to understand the difference between lay, laid and lie).
Nevertheless, I realized that the experience of writing a few full length novels certainly has improved my technical ability as well as my sense of flow and writing style. I'm not saying that I'm William Shakespeare or anything like that, but when I compare my last works with Hotel, it's clear that I have gotten a hell of a lot better at this.
I'm not saying this to toot my own horn. I'm using this as a lesson in experience and maturity. When I first started my career, I knew that I didn't know what I was doing. Every day, I was sure that my bosses would figure out that I was bluffing my way through everything. A few years later, however, I was hit with the realization that I was pretty much able to answer everyone's questions, usually correctly, and that it was not really a bluff, it was skill.
I feel the same way about my writing. It was not until I just re-read my original story that I finally realized how far I'd come.
In one of the management training courses that I've taken, the instructor went over the four stages of learning:
- Unconscious Incompetence - You don't realize that you don't know what you are doing
- Conscious Incompetence - You realize that you don't know what you are doing
- Conscious Competence - You know what you are doing, but you have to think about to do it right
- Unconscious Competence - You just know what to do, and you can do it without thinking about it
And the point of all this is that in writing, as in juggling and in my career, I've learned that if you work at what you are doing, and you do something that you really enjoy, you will be able to better yourself far than you ever dreamed possible.
M.
posted by MWTB at 4:08 AM
2 Comments:
I think you have 3 and 4 inverted. I was taught (as part of a training course for trainers) something like:
3) Unconscious Competence - One knows how to do something, but one doesn't know the reasons for much of what one is doing.
4) Conscious Competence - One knows what one is doing and why and can train others.
Toodles,
Arty
Actually, the way I described it is the way that it was taught to me; stage 4 is where you know it so well that you just do it without even thinking about it. Of course, different trainers may have different interpretations, which may be why we learned it differently. I think that both interpretations have validity.
M.
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