Thoughts about writing

I have no intention of becoming a writer for a living, nor do I have any dreams of writing a great novel - or any novel, for that matter.

In spite of that, I have been thinking lately about how to become better at writing, and it seems to have then become a theme in several blogs I read.

One of the primary things that writers recommend is to "find your voice" if you want what you write to ring true with your readers. I am fairly certain that I have no "readers" but I do want my travel blog to read well, and be entertaining for anyone who comes across it. This blog, while public, is not one that I tell people about. If someone finds it, and wants to follow the twists and turns of my brain, that is fine, but I'm not about to actually tell people explicitly that they (the twists and turns of my brain) exist and where to find them.

I also have a secondary reason to improve my writing; I am a business analyst by trade, and a large part of what I do is write. My writing needs to be clear and easy to understand, or it is completely useless to anyone who reads it. I write for different audiences, and I need to use slightly different language for each audience, and be able to speak to each audiences viewpoint. There is a great difference between business owners, application developers, project managers, executive sponsors and application support people. As a business analyst, I need to communicate effectively with all of the above.

And so, despite my misgivings, I am going to start doing daily writing exercises. Half an hour every day, with a randomly selected exercise. I'll try this for a month, and see if I notice a difference in my writing.

Day one is tomorrow.