Your Growth as a Writer

You already love to write. You’ve filled several journals with your scribblings, and you have gazillions of poems and stories filed away on your computer. But you just don’t feel like you’re getting anywhere—or maybe you’re not even sure how to tell if you are. Is your writing really any good in the first place? Is it getting better? How would you know?

Personal development in any area takes time. Just like physical growth, it happens little by little, not overnight. But the nice thing is, you can start anytime. To grow physically, you have to wait for your body to kick in and get taller. But you can begin growing as a writer right after you finish reading this article. Here are some ways to get started.

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Writing Christmas Card Greetings

Someone has to write those little poems and holiday greetings inside Christmas cards. Many of them are silly, others are boring, and some are delightful. But you can do it better!

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This month’s excerpt is from Jenny Wren, by Dawn Watkins—the very first novel published by JourneyForth Books.

The sudden perking sound of a tractor starting woke Jenny. The first thing she saw was an airy curtain lifting lightly on an August morning breeze. She heard the tractor settle into an even chugging, and then she remembered where she was.

It usually took her a month to get used to a new place, to get so she would know where she was as soon as she woke up. Somehow this place had not been as hard for her as other places.

On the wall at the end of the bed was a photograph in a wooden frame. It was of a man, a woman, and four children sitting on a porch. Jenny looked at the picture every morning, and every morning she wondered what it was like to belong to a family like that.

Jenny slipped out of bed and looked out the window, through the heavy green hemlocks, toward the barn. A red tractor, hung with great chains and logging tools, moved slowly up the road past the milkhouse.

As she started to get dressed, a pleasant voice called up through the round grating in the floor beside the bed.

“Are you up, Jenny?” the woman’s voice asked.

Jenny knelt by the grating. She could see the white enamel wood stove below and hear dishes rattling in the sink off to the right. At first the hole in the floor with its iron covering had seemed odd to Jenny. Now it was familiar.

“Yes, just now,” she called back.

“Come on down, then, and get some breakfast.”

Jenny buttoned her shirt, brushed her long brown hair, and meandered downstairs. When she opened the stair door into the kitchen, she expected Lady, the big gold collie, to be there, but she wasn’t.

“Good morning, Jenny,” said a short, gray-haired woman in a calico apron. “Do you want an egg for breakfast?”

“Yes, please,” answered Jenny, looking around a little for the collie.

“All right. Go wash your face,” said the woman. With a twinkle in her eye she added, “Lady’s out with Grandpa. If you hurry, you can catch them.”

Like what you've read? | Read excerpts from other books by JourneyForth

Writing Evaluations

Here at Inscriptions we want to help you improve your writing. Unfortunately, we can't review and comment on every submission we receive. If you would like an academic evaluation of your writing, check out the Writing Evaluations from BJU Press Testing & Evaluation. These assessments are a valuable tool for diagnosing weaknesses in your writing.