Extra Curricular School Activities to Improve Your Writing
Primarily, writing, writing, and more writing makes you a better writer. However, the content and scope of your writing comes from knowledge and experience; so any activity involving reading, writing, and creative and analytical thinking also helps.
If you have time for extra school sponsored activities outside of your regular classes, any club that promotes one or all of the above can help, i.e.:
- School paper staff
- Year book staff
- Psychology club
- Drama club
- Debate team, etc.
Things you can do on your own time include:
- Ramp up your reading: If you don’t really have a feel for what you might like, grab the required and recommended reading list for the next grades up and start reading them a little early. Not only will reading proven writing rub off on your own, but you’ll:
- Expose yourself to a wide range of writing styles to help you determine your likes and dislikes, which will eventually lead you to your own style
- Prepare yourself for more advanced discussions of your lessons when you get to the appropriate grade
- Write stories and articles on your own:
- Submit the ones you like to local newspapers or search online for magazines that accept unsolicited manuscripts to build a portfolio, if you like
- Keep them all, even if you never decide to submit for publication. Not only will you create a pool of potential head starts for future assignments, but you will be able to track your improvement.
- Journal daily: Check out my article “Journal Keeping for Writers” for some tips.
- Blog: If there is a subject near and dear to your heart: anything from shopping, to astronomy, to NASCAR, start up a blog of your own and make at least one post per week. While you’re exercising your writing muscles, you’ll also meet people with similar interests and expand your knowledge about your favorite subject. Visit one of the many available free services to get started:
You don’t have to do everything on this list to improve your writing. Select a couple that interest you and do them regularly. Consistency is key. Just increasing your reading and writing by a little bit and doing it every day will pay great dividends in improved writing skills.
Good luck and have fun with it. If you try one of these things, let me know how it goes by leaving a comment. If there are things you do, or did when you were in school that helped you improve your writing skills that aren’t listed here, please share!
