Welcome to Beyond the Written Word (btw2)

Welcome to my blog. I hope that it becomes our blog in the sense that the real goal here is to start a conversation about writing and critical thinking. I'm really hoping that you're a student -- a college or high school student will probably get the most out of this -- or a member of the business community or even a member of the academic world. Everyone is welcome to join us, but I think some people might get more out of this than others. But that's the key: I hope to start something here that is of value to you. As long as it is, I think you'll keep coming back. That's important because if you do keep coming back and you participate, then the blog will be even more valuable to more people.

I started this blog for a number of reasons. First, as a student and a professional, I've always made whatever mark I made primarily because I could write. The dirty little secret is that my ability to write well has always made me appear smarter than I really am. What I've come to realize over the years, though, is how writing has shaped my thinking. I'm a better public speaker now because of writing. I'm a better critical thinker now because of writing. I was able to transfer my writing skills to things like project management and understanding product design. There were a whole set of business skills that I was able to develop more easily because of what I knew about writing. In fact, that very quality of making connections between writing and these other things was a skill I developed as a writer. I want to talk more about these things -- particularly critical thinking and making connections -- as the blog grows. Know this right now, though: learning how to write well will make you a better problem solver, and business -- any kind of business -- is about solving problems.

The second reason I started this blog is that as a teacher and a professional, I've watched people struggle with writing. People have interesting notions about writing and being a writer. They think being a good writer is about being a good speller or being great with grammar. These aspects of writing are important to a polished final product to be sure, but they aren't the whole ballgame. Other people get caught up in the idea of writing as a career, something they have no interest in. When we talk in class about being a good writer, I always try to dispel the image that we're trying to create the next Stephen King. I try to establish the distinction (which is a kind of arbitrary one) between an author and a writer. We're not talking about you making a living as an author so much as we're talking about how writing helps you make a living.

I make this point because a lot of students tune out when I start talking about writing, and hey, I can understand why. Writing is difficult work. It's time consuming. It doesn't have the immediate payoff of an entertainment like a video game or hanging with your friends watching a movie, nor does it immediately seem to be an applicable skill to whatever career it is you have in mind. It's this last misconception -- that writing isn't a valuable skill for you to learn -- that gave me a third reason to start this blog.

My experience in school and at work has taught me that writing -- the process of it, the skills involved in that process -- is a transferable set of skills that has great value in the work world. Not only do you write a lot more in the business world than you can possibly imagine, but the skills involved in being a good writer are the very skills most executives are looking for in their employees.

The purpose of this blog, then, is to prove that to you. If you've stuck around long enough that you're reading this paragraph, then definitely stick around or come back often to this blog. My goal here is to prove how important writing is. I intend to bring business people into this conversation -- people who can actually offer you a job (don't necessarily expect that to happen at this blog, but then again, you never know) -- and let them talk to you directly about how important writing is and how transferable writing skills are to being a successful employee. I'll also share some research findings with you and do a bit of preaching myself, but I want you to see from a broad array of sources that your teachers aren't just bs-ing you when they talk about the importance of writing. If there's one thing I've come to believe about students, it's this: You have a pretty good radar for detecting hypocrisy and bs, and you demand practical value as the price for your attention. It's my goal to make this worth your time.

Come back soon and decide for yourself. Write to ya later,
-- David