“Words can sometimes be a poor form of communication, but they are the tools that we have to work with.” – Barry Rubin, You bring the bagels I’ll bring the Gospel, 1997:93

I’m jealous of the way certain people use words. They make it look easy to paint a picture with words; beauty seems to simply flow from their keyboards. I know that some people do have a natural flair for communication, but communication with words is also a skill that can be honed into a craft. And those that make it look easy, usually have worked hard at honing their craft.

Some of the suggestions I’ve seen for improving writing skills are to spend significant time reading good writers, and then to write more. A friend once justified the time he invested in reading Sports Illustrated by saying “they have good writers.” I think he was serious and it seems to have helped because he is an effective writer and has been published by others.

So, even though I’m not much of a New-Year’s-Resolution-Type, one of my goals this year is to improve my writing. I have a few writing projects I intend to work on, which include some journal articles and other derivative works from my dissertation.

What are some of your plans for this year?