According to Inside Reporting by Tim Harrower, where it cites a speech by Michael Gartner, there are 12 steps to good writing. These steps are:
1.Report - you need to know facts to write well.
2. Read - read everything, and think about what you're reading.
3. Listen - listen for emotion, nuance, detail, and facts. You have to listen carefully in order to get what you need.
4. Simplify - make something complex simple, or the readers will lose interest.
5. Collaborate - work with your editor, and make sure they're a good editor.
6. Trust - you must work in a trusting atmosphere, and trust the people you work with.
7. Experiment - try out new things! Don't let your writing fall into a rut.
8. Talk - talk to everyone, including yourself. Listen to how people talk, noting what sounds good and what doesn't.
9. Pounce - know how to use quotes, and recognize when you should use it!
10. Love - you have to love writing, or you'll never be good at it.
11. Care - you have to care about and be interested in what you're writing, but you can't have an agenda.
12. Balance - you have to be fair in what you write, and balance the good and the bad.
Of these, the three that come most easily to me are reading, talking, and loving. I read everything I can get my hands on, and I mean everything. I love to read. I finish at least a book a week, if not more. I will read anything I can get my hands on, from newspapers and magazines, to free books on my phone by self-published (and usually pretty bad) authors, to anything and everything in my local library or on sale in the bookstore. Reading is certainly not a problem for me. I also love to talk. I'm a great communicator, I love to converse with people; I'm just incredibly social. When I talk, I note what sounds awkward, and when I write, I usually read it out loud to see how it sounds. The other thing that comes easily to me is love. I love to write and report. I do it for fun. I write essays on books for fun, when there is nothing riding on it. I love to write poems, short stories, and even have four unfinished novels. I may just be the biggest nerd ever, yes. But I certainly love to write.
There are also a few things I'm not as strong at on that list. First of all, I don't always listen well. I always listen, but I can't always read people. I won't interrupt, but I might not catch the emotion behind what's said if it's subtle. I also like to talk, so I get excited, and I like to jump in and carry on a conversation, as opposed to letting them talk while I just sit back and listen. Another thing I need to work on is collaboration. I'm incredibly independent, especially when it comes to writing. I appreciate peer editing on my papers, but I don't always listen to it. I would rather do things on my own, even if that means I screw up on my own.
In order to improve my listening skills, I need to listen more actively. This means instead of listening while playing with my hair or doodling or texting, I need to be actively focused on the speaker, without the multitasking. This may help me catch subtleties in what's being said, and thus improve my listening skills. It's difficult for me not to jump into conversations, because my family is a very vocal family, so that's what I was raised with (if you want to say anything, you have to shout it over whoever is already speaking), but I've been working on it and have gotten a lot better with age at not always commanding the conversation. In order to fix my collaboration, I need to find someone who I like and trust, and has a similar writing style to mine, to work with. This would help me open my mind to other people's ideas. Also, I think I just need to get over myself and learn to allow other people to fix my writing, because I'm never going to be able to get away with not allowing other people to touch my writing if I go into journalism as a career.
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