Mr. Kilimi simply polished my understanding of good writing into something possible for me to understand and easy to apply. He made me understand that everyone could write through the different class assignments and exams which challenged us. He always appreciated it when we used descriptive language in writing, something that always added fun and imagery to the sample articles he read to us for inspiration. Being an editor, he always read carefully through all the writings of a class of over ninety students and always wrote in our written pieces of work pointing out what he considered important. Reading through his comments on my exam paper always left me changed in the way I write, considering his comments and keeping up with what he considered excellent. This greatly increased my interest in writing and to a greater extent reduced the limited ideology I had about good writers being born that way because there were still good students in the same class with me at writing. From these experiences, since I was six, I now believe good writing is one that has or creates a connection to the reader while bad writing is one that doesn’t have a clear meaning which is easy to follow and attacks the readers’ values in one way or the other. Good writings are usually characterized by their descriptive nature. They have stories that flow well while reading and they remain with the readers to create a positive impact afterward. However bad writings are normally characterized by mixed-up stories that are hard to follow and connect. As I said earlier on, I recognize good or bad writing by seeing the jumbled stories in the readings, the flow of the story from the start of the book to the end, how the writer chooses her characters and how she distributes roles, and also the predictability of the story in the writing makes it so boring. Good writing is more realistic than what I consider bad writing. Good writers are those whose writings touch their readers and remain with them while bad writers are those whose writing diverts from the
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readers’ expectations or interests. When I think of a good writer, I imagine an individual who enjoys their writings and spends a lot of time on their work, one who writes through inspiration to share discovered knowledge with the world. Additionally, whenever I think of a bad writer I imagine a person who writes to earn money from his/her writings and doesn’t spend careful time on his/her work, and doesn’t mind the interest of the readers or any positive impact. Good writers generally reflect a lot about their writings and spend a lot of time on their pieces to ensure that they have a clear meaning. They always seek knowledge, views, and critiques from colleagues and friends before publishing. They proofread their work and research their writing process to ensure that they deliver true content to their readers. On the other hand, bad writers usually invest little time in their work since most of them concentrate on having many books written rather than their impact. So through my process of writing, the theories I kept getting in the different stages of my life have helped me a lot in moving on from one level to another. I first learned how to hold a pencil and be neat while growing up, then I learned the mechanics of grammar in writing and I was temporarily afraid of writing at a certain point in life and I didn’t believe in myself. Now I know that good writing is all about the correct use of grammar in any given language to make sensible meaning to the readers. I as well know writing is not a hard thing and it only takes practice and dedication to improve and become better at it. Writing is the process of composing text from our thoughts to the world, and this means everyone can write since all this originates and comes from our thoughts and brains which we all have! Though some writers are born with special creativity, they still undergo training and repeated practice to become great writers. This completely shows that great writers or leaders are self-made. If we are dedicated to becoming great writers, amidst all the rejections and challenges, we will surely become the good writers I described above. I believe these are the ones who make great writers in life: writers who not only write through inspiration but write to inspire.
