In this age of technology, when everyone is using their phone, tablet, computer or other electronic means of communication, I still think it's important to learn to write well.
I don't mean just write, as in taking pen to paper and making letters. I am referring to making whole sentences, putting your thoughts together coherently, refining your ideas and then putting them in some form. That may be by hand, actually writing on paper with a pencil; or it may be on a computer.
Of course, there is more to writing than just . writing. It involves doing research, talking to one or more people, thinking, rethinking, attending events or reading someone else's writing. Once these things have been done, then you need to put all the information together, decide what you're going to write about and then put that information in some kind of order.
The act of writing makes you think. It makes you reflect on a subject or idea. It gives you a chance to sort through them for the truth, for your position, for your opinion. And it helps you to communicate those ideas. Your ideas and thoughts may be all jumbled or they may be in some kind of order. But the fact that your thoughts are coming to you in ANY kind of order is a step in the right direction!
Back before computers, typewriters were considered time-saving devices. One didn't have to write longhand anymore. And I still believe that computers - or anything that saves us time in our writing - constitute great advancements in the arena.
But I have to be careful that I don't get lazy while I'm writing. I might think that it's going to be a short e-mail or a text to my daughter, and then use the abbreviations that have become an accepted part of everyday language.
Writing, I have come to realize, is important in all areas of our lives. You must be able to write in college, in your workplace, in the community - theses, resumes, press releases, announcements, brochures, fliers, reports, blogs and memos.
Our local junior colleges and four-year universities have courses in writing that are available for all ages.
Jeanne Archambeault
Mancos Times editor