Why I called this article “Writing
Jumpers”
When we write
we can liken the process to the jumpers in our wardrobe. We will have
cheaper, every day jumpers, expensive jumpers for best, and maybe a
few that have been hand knitted of variable quality and use.
The cheap market stall jumper
Most of us will have written some quick blog type posts. These are
akin to a diary entry. They don't say anything of lasting value. It might just be something like "Hi guys, here is the new day. Let's do something amazing with it. I am having toast for breakfast on the veranda."
It is easy enough to tell the world you have
had tea and toast for breakfast and you may well do it well. However, the information is of passing interest.
It is a bit like going to the market and buying a cheap jumper. It does the
job. It may not last long, but it may be around in your wardrobe for
a while.
Sometimes you get a real bargain and the cheap jumper turns
out to be very useful because for some reason that short comment earns you more than you expected.
In the same way, a short post, knocked up in
haste for a “writer’s website,” may very occasionally do you
proud. However, most will be quickly forgotten and discarded unless
you take them out of the wardrobe and do something with them.
Recycling the jumper
A cheap
jumper can be turned into an expensive looking one if you put some
effort in. The sleeves might need to be longer, you might make cuffs,
you might put a bit of your best embroidery round the edges and in
the end, your cheap jumper or rather your quick post might turn into
something else.
You expand on the information you originally gave and drop the chat. Your next post is about ideas for special breakfasts on the veranda and includes your recipe for marmalade. The post becomes useful in a different venue because it is now relevant to a cookery blog.
This is not by the way, the same as article spinning
because you take your initial idea and work on it to create a longer
and better article. Your finished product should bear no resemblance to the quick short post you originally made.
Your original thought is a starting point for a better article.
Some of the things we right have a lot of mileage. We can become specialists in the topic. They are your like the jumper you wear most days.
The Everyday Writing Jumper
Somewhere in your wardrobe you probably have two or three jumpers
that you wear over and over again. They are your every day, useful
jumpers. When you write there are probably topics that you find you
can return to to make reasonable length posts and articles.
For
example, I write about Christianity a lot (though mainly on my own
blogs) and childcare and the cat. These are topics I actually know
something about. I can come at them from lots of different angles and
produce good articles in a short space of time because I have a
knowledge base to work from.
When you have time to work on an article you might turn your attention to something that requires more research and detail. It isn't easy to do that every day so you save this for when you can put out your very best efforts. That is like wearing the best jumper in your wardrobe for a special occassion.
Very best writing jumpers
The very best writing you do will be like your very best jumper.
You will want to keep and treasure it and it will be of lasting
value.
You cannot knit your best jumper while you are still learning
I once learned to knit. My first efforts were not great,
but I persevered and as I improved I was finally able to make a very
complicated jumper.
Don't lost your best jumpers
I was proud of that jumper and wore it, and basked
in the admiration of those who saw it. I loved that shawl and it
lasted a long time. I think it is still in my wardrobe somewhere. I
may get it out again this Summer. The same may be said of your best blogs or articles. Remember:
There is no harm in republishing links to a good post.
There is a skill to writing and to
creating jumpers
Learning to write is a skill that improves over time. The best
things you write, the ones that will last, are likely to be the
articles that you spend time on, allowing yourself to include the
advice you are given on how to make your writing the very best it can
be.
Recycling a jumper is like re-editing
You may have to unravel your beloved piece over and over again
until it is right, you allow people to point out where the stitches
have been dropped, (these people are called editors,) and you are
willing to spend the time to make that article as perfect as it can
be. You do the same when you learn to knit. You unravel that jumper,
if you go wrong, until it is as well made as you can get it.
You can take your best writing jumper to
the fashion show
This is the article you can parade like your best jumper. It is
the one you refer to (or hopefully more than one,) when someone asks
you what you write. It is the evening best jumper of the writing
world. The jumper with all the pearls and sequins and glitter on
that you would love wear for everyday, but you cannot because you have
to take care of the jumper and put it in all the right places.
Be patient and wait for the right place to place this kind of writing jumper. It is too valuable to give away. Search
diligently for the best place to keep it because you know that you
have worked hard and have something of value to show off to the
world. In other words, send that one to the publisher and hope to see it in print.
The good thing about making a best
writing jumper
When you create your best writing jumper and take care of it, then
you have probably also created your best learning tool for writing
all those other lesser writing jumpers. You will find even your short
blog posts improve because you have worked to become not just a
writer of blogs, but a writer who knows their craft. It is worth
taking the time to learn how to make the best articles because what
you write, even quick posts will be improved.
I challenge you to learn to write a best
writing jumper
Yes, it will take time to write that best writing jumper. You will
find you cannot do things you have always done and that there is a
way to write things. You may have to think more about grammar,
spelling, form, style and all sorts of things that you have never
bothered much about, but you will be so glad when you see yourself in
print that you gave time to the learning process and the end result
will, like my very best shawl, be admired.
Are you up to the Writing Jumper
Challenge?
If you are up for the challenge, here is something to get your
teeth into:
George
Orwell’s Guide to Writing Well
Are you up for the challenge.
You might spend the time learning how to knit, but are you up to the
challenge of creating a best writing jumper, or preferably a lot of
extremely well written articles?
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