One thing I've always loved to do from childhood is writing, no joke... I enjoyed writing stories as much as I enjoyed reading different kinds of stories back then. Dad was very supportive of this skill of mine but then, I was not good at it at all. I remember a few years back when I came across some stories I wrote when I was still a kid and I couldn't stop laughing at myself for how silly and childish they were.
It didn't end there... I tried writing after a long while again
Thanks to so many factors of life I encountered, I stopped writing for sometime (that is, I became a teenager) and then I started to write again. Not good writings but I was lucky to have a neighbour who would teach us a lot about how to write and spell when he is bored at home... His boredom became my learning time and I can't stop being grateful for that.
He would allow us write our stories and he reads to make corrections. I can still remember the number of times I got bad on my stories because of lack of continuations and wrong spellings. That didn't make me give up though because he didn't fail to acknowledge my beautiful handwriting haha... More than a motivation if you ask me.
Some days, I would feel so elated when I have good ideas for my writings and he wouldn't fail to encourage me to pen them all into a paper but some days, he goes too harsh on me simply because I kept repeating some mistakes over and over. I'm not one of those fast learners but when I know something, it sticks very well... That paid off for my writing skill.
Thanks to his teachings back then, I still have old stories I could go back to read that still surprises me (I'll be like "Did I write this at that age?") but then another long break from writing came in again although I wrote during normal school studies but no training for any improvement.
Until I found online blogging which led me to Hive...
My first days at the first blogging platform I found wasn't easy at all, I felt like a baby who was trying to understand what "Forming a sentence that makes sense" means. I still remember getting sanctioned for plagiarism as I thought I could borrow some words to make things easier for me but I learnt the hard way. It led me to meet some good writers who put me through to write better.
From then till now, I'm still writing and I don't think I'll be stopping anymore because it has become a part of me with everyday improvement. Joining Hive and blending in wasn't hard at all because of the training I had from the other platform, I just simply put all I've learned into good use and it's been paying off for me.
Tips I could gather from my amateur days
- It's always a slow process to grow well and it requires consistency to be faster than slow.
- It gets easier by every action made for improvement, hardwork will always pay.
- Having those who believe in what you can do goes a long way in sharpening your skill.
- Taking corrections easily and putting to practice is a fast way to improve.
- Never stop learning, the world is evolving and you've got to follow it's trend.
You could get more tips from my amateur days story, but I'd like to stop at these five. I'm still learning to be a better writer than I am now and I'm glad Hive has provided a daily means for me to do that.
If there's something I'm still an amateur at... It is singing
People may say I sing very well but I know too well that I have a lot of things to improve on with my voice and I plan to get there somehow and someday. Like the tips I've given, it's a slow process and I'm willing to enjoy it to being proficient in my singing alongside my writing.
First image is mine and designed with Canva
Gifs are from tenor.gif
