How Good a Writer Do You Need to Be?
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Assuming you’re not aiming to be a prize-winning novelist or poet, you probably just need to be reasonably proficient at writing–and comfortable with that attitude. One of the attitudes that discourages people from writing easily is the concern that they are not as good as they should be.
Interestingly, not being great at cooking doesn’t keep most of us out of the kitchen. Many of us know little about gardening, yet we don’t hesitate to plant bulbs or raise houseplants. We accept that we’re good enough for the tasks we want to accomplish.
Yet we are hesitant to adopt the “good enough” attitude when it comes to writing, usually because there’s a teacher or parent in our past whose voice we can still hear. That’s the voice that told us we didn’t measure up to their standard for writing, usually one of the great English or American writers.
But does that matter if you need to write a report at work or a letter to the school board? All you need to do is to write clearly, succinctly, and directly. Having a great style or being original isn’t necessary.
If you don’t know how to write clearly, succinctly, and directly, you can learn, just as you can learn to be good enough at fixing bicycles or playing tennis. It takes some time and effort to learn to be “good enough” at writing, but it is possible.