Writing Process

The purpose of this blog is to share interesting ideas I have found in recent American professional publications dealing with the teaching of English at all levels, elementary, secondary and college.

Topic: Writing Process

Title: “How to Live with a Hero.” John D. MacDonald. The Writer (September 1964). Republished in The Writer (July 2008), pp. 22-23. The Writer is a magazine by writers for writers. Its goal is to keep the writer’s spirits up.

Summary: “John D. MacDonald (1916-1986) wrote 21 Travis McGee books.” In the final paragraph of this article, he talks about learning to write: “After more millions of words than I would care to estimate, I am still learning.”

Comment: I said it in my book, Teaching English How To…. and I say it again: I never stop learning to write. Each new piece of writing has some challenge that causes me to think about how to write it. Each new assignment for a professional article requires something different from all the other articles I’ve written. I think this advice is helpful for your writing students. Was it Hemingway who said we’re all apprentices in a task that no one masters—or something like that? RayS.