Focus and... Boating?

Good writing. When I think of the question “What makes writing good?” I think; it should be entertaining, informational, and well organized; to me those three things are key, mostly. Not everything you read must be informational nor does it have to be entertaining but, I feel like there should be a healthy balance of both. But there is also one other thing that is most important of all, a clearly stated topic. This is one of my trouble areas in my own writing. I tend to get cared away with what I am typing, so I forget to go back and make sure that my topic is understood and readers will even know what I am trying to make a point on.

“I know you’ve all heard Bob Marley once or twice in your lives, whether you knew it or not. His songs have been in everything from movies and commercials to video games. One of his songs happens to be my absolute favorite, “Three Little Birds“. I guess you could say it goes well with my carefree and easy going nature.”

This is an example of my own writing,from my blog Feelin Irie. There is a topic but, its not very focused. The words just kind of sit there, they don’t really draw in the reader.

Making sure that the topic is focused and has a purpose is very important. No matter how entertaining or neatly put together a piece of writing is, it will be a complete flop if the reader has no idea what the topic or main idea is of the writing and why.

An essay without a clear idea is like a ship in the fog with no radar, the reader nor the captain knows what they are headed for.

That said, I can get to what I feel is one of the most important steps toward a good piece of writing and helping hone in on the topic or purpose of the writing, revising. Revisions made to writings can help in so many ways, like: focusing more on the topic, strengthening the writer’s argument, and bringing clarity to the writing.
If I spend a little more time revising after I am done writing I tend to see where I have made mistakes. Seeing where I have placed something wrong or not placed anything at all that should be there will and has helped me improve my writing by a bit. I am not saying I have figured out the writing “game” and can do anything now, but I can recognize my errors easier.
So now, with a bit of luck, anyone who reads this can take away from it that, topic is key and that revision can help insure its focus; that is if my topic was clearly focused.

Maybe time for some revising…