ABSTRACT
Writing is a skill; like other skills, it can be learnt, and like most skills it is not inborn. For example, few people lack the basic equipment to learn to ride a bicycle (balance, strength, sight), but most become skilful cyclists only after much practice. Confidence is the main necessity, and having the courage to get on and try. The same is true of writing. Most people have the basic equipment (tact, experience, language), but like riding a bicycle, writing is a skill that must be learnt by doing it. No amount of reading, or absorbing rules and advice, can substitute for practice. So as we offer advice and give examples, our main aim is to reassure you that early ‘wobbly’ efforts at writing are quite normal. Don’t be discouraged by the writer’s equivalent of grazed knees. Practice will bring coordination and control that will change writing from an apparently hazardous exercise to an efficient means of getting somewhere.
