Writing literature

What does it mean to be a writer of literature? Well, to me being a writer is one of teaching. Writing is a skill that one can teach, but must also be a skill that is somewhat inbreed to a point. Teachers can teach the grammar behind the writing, as we all know by now with the eight parts of speech, subject-verb agreement, diagramming, the mechanics as spelling, capitalization and punctuation. They can also teach syntax and proper word choice and how to write a paragraph from writing the topic sentence to supporting sentences to fit a topic of one's choosing along with all the other skills that makes English and composition fun. I bet we all remember the lessons we had in learning to write a perfect sentence then moving on to forming and writing the perfect paragraph. These exercises might have been boring, but very necessary for us born writers. They taught us how to put order into our writing.

Writing literature to me is one that leads to more reading and yes even to more learning in subjects that I am not familiar with and the research begins in earnest. Doing research for me is the fun part of writing. Research allows me delve into a subject and to see the relationships therein. Writing also means learning how to compare and contrast various aspects of a topic, and in writing literature as in fiction or even non-fiction a writer can learn more about the setting, the characters, the theme and even the plot of the story or book whatever the writer plans on writing.

Literature falls into many classifications from children's picture books to beginning readers to young adult books that allow them to learn to read and the beginnings of reading to learn and to write. We all learn to read about the same we all learn to write. Think back to when you entered the first grade or maybe even earlier and you first picked up a fat pencil or even a fat crayon and you put that first mark on a piece of paper and the world that simple action allowed us to start.

As we grew in our learning we moved on to more advanced reading and writing. The two seemed to go together when we formed the words physically with our pencils or crayons and then read the words back. We started to see images form in our minds that we had to 'write' down or have them lost. Remember in learning to write we learned to print then we moved on to learning 'cursive' to make our words more fun to write and even read.

Do you remember when you first learned this very valuable skill compared to learn how to type, whether on a typewriter or the computer keyboard. Depending on how old or young you are would depend on how or what you learned. When I was younger back in the early seventies there were manual and electric typewriters and the beginnings of the personal computers. I remember hearing the clickity-clack of the typewriter and the way fingers moved over the keyboard and seeing the letters form the words that will be read by whomever would be interested in what was written. It was like magic. I knew then what I wanted to be one day, but somehow even though I did not want to admit it then I knew I would also need a way to make money to live life, and still be able to write.

Writing literature that I write will one day will be read by others who may have an interest in education, nursing and even social work and counseling and maybe even some children's stories that I have tucked away in a few folders or still forming in my mind to share with others. Reading and writing literature for me gives me a chance to keep learning and building my skills as a reader and a writer.