by Patricia Mayo

Did you notice something strange in the last few entries? There’s columns and microposts and strange pictures - oh my!

Dig in and pull out your future better self.
Photo by Bart

Over the last couple days I have broken my blog more times than I can count - all in the name of improving my writing style. Of course, it helps that it all looks neat and fancy too.

Really I’m just trying to forcibly train myself. Some people write long paragraphs - I write long sentences. Sure it may not seem like a bad habit. However, I believe if you’re not moving forward, you’re moving backward.

Always Room for Improvement

You can't count the sky as a limit.
Photo by Pujah Parakh

Nobody and nothing is born perfect. No blog in this world is launched exactly as it will always stay. Even if you have a natural talent, you can always improve upon it.

I suppose you could call my sense of style a natural talent. Writing requires a sense of style just like design, and I think that might be why I’m naturally pretty good at both.

You’re hating me right now too, I just know it. Yes, I was the brainiac in school. I was the fat girl with thick-rimmed glasses in the front row with my hand up for every question. The dreaded “teacher’s pet.”

I would skip school and go to the library. All my homework was finished within a month of the new semester. I had no life except orchestra, art club, drama, debate, ROTC, chess club, scholastic competitions, and volunteering.

Yup. I’m a geek. However…

In my freshman year of High School, I flat out failed. For the second time in my life, a certain disability became an embarrassment once again.

Except this time, that disability stood between me and my dream at the time. The first time it happened, I cried myself a ribbon. However, tears won’t get you in the military.

My dream was to be a Navy J.A.G. officer - but I couldn’t even do one single push-up. I couldn’t even jog a mile, much less run it in the time they wanted.

I wasn’t a total lush though. I walked to school (or the library) every day, and rollerbladed to the beach every weekend. I could do squats and sit-ups until the cats came home - but push-ups and running just wasn’t my thing.

But this was my dream! As a Navy J.A.G. officer, I could travel the world (on a boat!!) and practice law. So I set out to fix my inconvenient truth.

Ready, Fire, Aim

You don't get better just by staring at the sky.
Photo by Nattu

My complete lack of military grade physical ability was noted with a great big “Fail” near the end of my first semester. That gave me the chance to set up my second semester to make sure it didn’t happen again.

The cushy classes of my first semester (English 1 AP, Algebra 1 AP, C++ Programming AP, and Navy ROTC - yes, this was the first semester of my Freshman year) became Phys. Ed, Weight Lifting, Team Sports, and ROTC in my second semester. I was determined.

I added Drill Team and Rifle Team to my after school activities. For those of you not as enamored with the military as I am, Drill Team is that group of psychos who spin 10 pound rifles over their heads in unison.

Over the course of that second semester, I went from total physical nincompoop to that girl taking bets against guys on who could do push-ups, in unison, for the longest span of time - and winning.

It worked. That one semester of hardcore physical training set me up for life. I went on to do wrestling and football too, mostly just to improve my running - and I aced every physical test from then on.

So why am I not a Navy J.A.G. officer now? Well, fast forward 2 years, after missing just 2 questions on the ASVAB, I went merrily along to the medical checkup… and failed. Family history.

It seems Fate was downright determined too. I think it’s for the best anyways. I still love the military, but I’m sorry, I just can’t love the government given the current circumstances.

You may think “well she’s a writer now, so all that was for nothing.” No, it wasn’t. You know what I got from that?

I proved to myself that I could accomplish the impossible. If I set my mind to it, I could start from nothing and reach even the most ambitious goal.

…so long as I did it right.

Restrictions Create Growth

Houdini always got out, and got better at getting out.

I did the impossible because the impossible was all I could do. For that semester, I actually went to school every day - and every day, I was doing something physical at school. Improvement was unavoidable.

Sure you could argue that I could have just skipped school - but I didn’t want to miss out. To this day I’m still addicted to being sweaty, sore, and bruised.

No pain no gain - and restrictions are the biggest PITA in the whole world.

Nowadays, whenever I want to improve something, I just add a restriction. This time, I’m applying that concept to my writing.

Think of it as a creative application of Parkinson’s Law.

Instead of “work expands so as to fill the time available for its completion,” just replace a few words and you have a new foolproof self-improvement plan.

I want to write shorter sentences - so it stands to reason I should give myself less room. “Words expand so as to fill the space available.”

These columns aren’t automatic either. I am forcing myself to pay very close attention to my word choice and overall length.

Why? Partly because I can, but mostly because I should. You see, someday I will be published in a format just like this. Someday, my name will be in print.

Journalistic writing isn’t as high up on my list as it once was - it used to be #1, now #2 - but still very much worth pursuing.

Public speaking kicked writing out of #1 actually (and that’s another story for another time). I’m workin’ on that too, but that’s all I’m going to say for now.

In a nutshell: you never know what you will really learn, until you try something really hard.

If you’re up for some good old fashioned competition, let’s make some rules for this game and help you write better too. Sound like a plan?



Last 5 Posts in Writing



If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed so you never miss the next great communication tip. Thanks for stopping by, I hope to see you often!

Trisha, @mayobrains on Twitter