Why become a writer and why study writing?

Writing fits a work-from-home freelance lifestyle

Writing is the ideal profession for a freelancer, who prefers to work from home. It’s a job that suits a self-starter, who is comfortable working in isolation for hours every day, enjoys intellectual stimulation, a dollop of creativity and a more relaxed schedule than most nine-to-fivers.

A career as a writer in a team

Writing doesn’t have to be a solo career though. Some writers balance freelance work with work in a team. Scriptwriters for film and TV often work in collaboration with other writers; news and broadcast journalists can work in a high-pressure newsroom; many magazine journalists work in-house with a team of copyeditors and feature writers; corporate writers work with every level of employee to gather stories and information.

Make money writing

What’s more, with a variety of writing jobs and hard work, it is possible to make a living as a writer. For those already working full-time, writing can bring in extra cash with stories or articles published in magazines, webzines, newsletters or newspapers.

Changes in the publishing field mean that you can, without vast upfront costs, write and publish e-books on a variety of topics. Thanks to the Net you can work online writing copy for a variety of formats (websites or content factories). Business writing and Press Release Writing are high-paying fields. Similarly, writing articles for magazines can bring in a solid income once you have built up a relationship with editors at several magazines.

Working as an in-house journalist or broadcast journalist will pay a decent salary.

Challenging and fascinating

Depending on the field of writing in which you choose to specialize, the job of a writer can take you to…

• exotic far-flung places (Travel  Writing and Writing a Non-fiction Book),
• war zones and the heart of natural disasters (News Journalism and Broadcast Journalism),
• meet fascinating CEOs, leading scientists and film stars (Magazine Journalism)
• the depths of your own memories and life story (Writing Your Memoir)
• the heights of your own imagination (Creative Writing, Poetry, Scriptwriting, Novel writing, Children’s Book writing, Short Story Writing and Flash Fiction)
• the plain, persuasive and grammatically perfect writing demanded in the workplace (Business Writing, Copywriting, Grammar Skills and Writing Coach Course)
• the wild, wild Web and the world of social media, marketing and Web Writing.

Writing is a critical skill in the workplace

Good writing – that is grammatically correct, using the right format and sound layout skills - is a highly valued skill in the workplace.

Well-written documents make an impression that cannot be underestimated. Nothing shouts “I am in control” as loudly as a beautifully written report, emails that communicate clearly and effectively and business letters that command respect and elicit a response. 

The opposite is also true.  Writing that is riddled with typos, grammatical errors and a hard-to-read layout, immediately creates a poor impression.

It is never too late to improve these skills with a Grammar Course or one-on-one training with a Writing Coach to learn solid writing skills that could land you that promotion at work.

Why study writing?

It was Ernest Heming way who said: “It's none of their business that you have to learn how to write. Let them think you were born that way.”

Just like great painters apprentice under a master; musicians study their instrument for years before they stand on a stage, most well known writers have studied writing. Every field of expertise requires years of training and development. Writing is no exception.

There are, of course, issues around how writing can be taught. Most would agree that sitting in a class absorbing hours of theory is not going to give you the results you want. For instance, studying Beethoven from a book is not going to help you play ‘The Moonlight Sonata’. You have to practise your craft, over and over. The same goes for writing.

You need someone focusing intently on specific writing skills: your sentence lengths, your style, structure, content, and the logic in your writing. Your teacher needs to point out to you, again and again: “Here you have used dangling participles four times in one paragraph. You’re using passive voice. Throw in active verbs. Here are five clichés.”

We believe that our online writing courses are one of the best ways to fast-track your writing career. We don’t believe you get the best value from group feedback, peer review or listening to hours of literary theory.

We have found that the best way to learn how to write is to write, with feedback from an expert mentor, every line of the way. As author Diane Awerbuck puts it: “…You can't be a writer without the grim slog of actually getting words down on paper. I think everyone gets irritated with those pretentious poetry café types who present themselves as writers but somehow never get around to writing anything worthwhile. You can't just talk the talk; you have to walk the walk.”

Online Writing Courses

At NZ Writers’ College we offer 25 specialist writing courses tutored by award-winning writers. Gain essential skills and all the knowledge you need to succeed as a writer in a particular field, with one-to-one support, encouragement and expert feedback every line of the way.

Visit us at www.nzwriterscollege.co.za, or call us on 09 550 4635.