Learning Lessons From The Past
Apr. 15, 2023 • By Jason Elhilow
DescriptionSome quick tips and tricks on how to improve your writing by learning from past writing endeavors.
MessageYour mileage may vary. This is just general help, not a fix for everything.
ImageWRTN
"The greatest teacher, failure is." Yes, I am starting this with a quote from Yoda. Learning from your past, from the mistakes you have made, is a surefire way to success, no matter what the situation is. This is no more apparent than in writing, where examining and taking lessons from previous works can help you make the best product possible.
Somewhere I see this the most is in essays. Now, if you are a student, you have likely written dozens of them. And, if you are a smart one, you still have your old ones lying around, hopefully with a grade and corrections. Though even without those, take a look at one; read it, and see what you notice. Yeah, it probably sucks, even if you just wrote it. There are likely a million mistakes, little things that you would have done differently. That is step one. Step two is a bit harder: you have to write another essay. Look at all the mistakes, all the problems, so when you write your next, you can look out for them. It could be grammar, or maybe the structure. Possibly the wording could have been better, or it was too long or short. Whatever they may be, I swear to you, if you learn from the past and apply those lessons to future pieces, you will see exponential growth. And when you find mistakes on that one, you apply them to the next. It's cyclical.
Now, what is the best way to look back at your old work? Where could you find a possible repository of exemplary essays to take inspiration from? Let me give you a hint: you're on it right now. WRTN is the premier location of fantastic work, including essays, from a wide array of authors, all with different skill levels from all walks of life. There is NO better place than here. And, if you want to be one of those smart students mentioned earlier, WRTN is also the perfect location. Think of contributing to WRTN as a milestone in a longer creative journey, as others watch you grow AS you grow. It's a fantastic marker of where you've come from and where you'll go if your work is on here, acting like a digital scrapbook. Contribute here.
No matter how you use WRTN or other resources, just know that looking to the past is the only way to see the future. Just as you've likely heard historians say a million times, peering at prior human endeavors can act as a warning against repeating them, as a message of the doom that follows if you do. So take that idea into account while writing; look at the old to improve the new; don't make the same mistake twice. And if you do, for the love of God, don't do it thrice. Because if you don't, you are doomed to repeat it.
Somewhere I see this the most is in essays. Now, if you are a student, you have likely written dozens of them. And, if you are a smart one, you still have your old ones lying around, hopefully with a grade and corrections. Though even without those, take a look at one; read it, and see what you notice. Yeah, it probably sucks, even if you just wrote it. There are likely a million mistakes, little things that you would have done differently. That is step one. Step two is a bit harder: you have to write another essay. Look at all the mistakes, all the problems, so when you write your next, you can look out for them. It could be grammar, or maybe the structure. Possibly the wording could have been better, or it was too long or short. Whatever they may be, I swear to you, if you learn from the past and apply those lessons to future pieces, you will see exponential growth. And when you find mistakes on that one, you apply them to the next. It's cyclical.
Now, what is the best way to look back at your old work? Where could you find a possible repository of exemplary essays to take inspiration from? Let me give you a hint: you're on it right now. WRTN is the premier location of fantastic work, including essays, from a wide array of authors, all with different skill levels from all walks of life. There is NO better place than here. And, if you want to be one of those smart students mentioned earlier, WRTN is also the perfect location. Think of contributing to WRTN as a milestone in a longer creative journey, as others watch you grow AS you grow. It's a fantastic marker of where you've come from and where you'll go if your work is on here, acting like a digital scrapbook. Contribute here.
No matter how you use WRTN or other resources, just know that looking to the past is the only way to see the future. Just as you've likely heard historians say a million times, peering at prior human endeavors can act as a warning against repeating them, as a message of the doom that follows if you do. So take that idea into account while writing; look at the old to improve the new; don't make the same mistake twice. And if you do, for the love of God, don't do it thrice. Because if you don't, you are doomed to repeat it.