SECTION II

SKILLS DRILLS

In this section, the goal is to focus on some of the discrete skills that are part of the writer’s practice. At the same time, practicing those skills will help develop the habits of mind writers utilize when practicing their practice.

I wish there was a good synonym for “practice,” but I’m committed to the word at this point. Let’s just get used to saying that you’re practicing your practice.

Writers must be good observers of the world around them and be able to draw meaning from what they’ve experienced in a way they can put into words for the benefit of others, so we’ll practice that in a very specific way in the “Who Are They?” experience.

To bring the world to life on the page, it helps to have the powers of description, which we’ll practice in “Where Did You Go?”

In “You Did What?” you’ll put those first two experiences together, making observations and trying to use your skills of description to convey to your audience what happened on an “adventure.”

And finally, in “Is It True? Did It Really Happen?” you’ll practice mining your own experiences: observing your past, considering the meaning of that past in the present, and trying to bring the past alive in the present, using your skills of description.

In each of these experiences, you will have a chance to reflect on these skills, where they come from, how they can be used, and how they can be nurtured as you gain more and more experience with writing.

You will return to these skills over and over in the other experiences in this book.