At The Bar of Writing Opinion
Writing is a skill you need to practice and experience; writing takes time and effort notwithstanding around in bars!
Before I get told off about a silly mistake with notwithstanding, that was deliberate.. honest 
You can read all you want about creating killer sales copy, erudite academic tracts, essays that garner top accolades and novels that bring tears to the eyes BUT unless you practice and actually "DO", none of these things will happen.
There is no substitute for actually writing; not only to produce work product but also to hone your skill. Just like a top athlete, you have to train every single day if you expect to be able to deliver the performance that is expected and reach your true writing potential.
A day without writing is a sad day for me. If I do not write, I get grumpy and moody while people around me notice it a lot more now than a couple of years ago when I became serious about writing as a career choice. That demonstrates one aspect of my own personal affinity for writing - I'm passionate about writing!
I've written before how I'm not interested in writing a novel and becoming known as a "great" writer.
That has changed for me, I want to be known as a "great" writer in my field - I want to be known as a producer of fantastic work that delivers results for my clients so I can justify charging more for what I do. The "great" novel will still have to wait but I certainly want to be known as "great" for what I do and if you're serious about writing as a career or as a hobby, you need to take on that passion as well. How you harness that passion is your choice; for me it just happens to be that I want financial success and security but you may wish for literary recognition and that's your choice.
Ernest Hemingway said something along the lines of "I write one page that is a masterpiece, but the other ninety-nine pages are rubbish I put in the bin." - he became a "great" by rejecting his rubbish and thereby improved the quality of his product by distillation. The point is he admitted he wrote rubbish; we just did not get to see it.
He also practiced one heck of a lot!
Improving your skill will take a great deal of effort and patience on your part - no web site or crash course in 30 days will turn you into a great writer - but unless you go about creating rubbish of your own, you will never, ever produce anything that runs the risk of being called "great".
Now enough standing around in this bar and get some scribbling done!
Related posts:
- At the Bar of Writing Opinion I came across a quote attributed to Daniel Boorstin who was Chief Librarian of the US Library of Congress. He used to start writing at 5am. He wrote a couple of books that did reasonably well, The Discoverers and The Creators, what they are about I have no idea. When asked why he wrote and [...]...
- Writing: a Career Scope Writing as a career has no boundaries. An affinity for writing is something those who wish to begin their career as a writer should have. Other necessary traits include the ability to express ideas clearly in writing, self motivation, creativity and curiosity to know more and write more. To begin with, editors and authors are [...]...
- Going off at a Tangent Twisting ideas to promote your client By now, if you have been reading my posts, you will have gathered that I am not a so-called "creative writer". I do not produce literature. I have no burning desire to write a novel, unless it's guaranteed to be a bestseller ,which will keep me in the style [...]...
- Wikipedia: Fact or Opinion? I've just concluded a writing assignment of a deeply technical nature. The assignment was in two parts, first of all dealing with the need for Solvency II in the context of life insurance companies and secondly, the factors that persuaded the Massachusetts legislature to implement a mandatory universal healthcare system, the first US State to [...]...
- Top 10 Beginner writing Tips 1) As a writer you need to be very clear in your mind about what you want to write about. If the concept and purpose of your intended material is steady and clear in your mind, then conveying it becomes simpler. 2) The second most important aspect in writing, is lucidity of thought and expression. [...]...