Why does NBC think I want to watch Olympic volleyball? They’re right, but it’s certainly not my top choice for sports. Still, it seems to be there whenever I turn on the TV. Fortunately I can see any previously aired event online – though not with my computer because it’s outdated the necessary software – and I’ve been able to watch whatever I want. My first choice is gymnastics.
My parents started me in gymnastics at a young age, and I trained and competed for about seven years. I quit in middle school when the amount of practice overwhelmed me. At that point I had more interest in skateboarding and playing music. But I stayed active enough to maintain certain skills – handstands, back handsprings, back tucks – and eventually I got a good friend to go to the gym with me once a week during our sophomore year in high school.
We only went for a couple of months. I felt out of place because we, though still teenagers, were so much older than most other gymnasts there. But I don’t think that was the reason we stopped. I can’t remember why. It was lots of fun, and I got a chance to polish my form a bit and even learn some new stuff. In the constant drilling of specific movements, our coach would use a saying that I’d heard many times before, from different coaches during my more serious training. He said, “practice doesn’t make perfect – perfect practice makes perfect.”
Watching the Olympics makes me wish I’d stuck with gymnastics a bit longer, but I’m happy with the other pursuits I’ve taken up in its place. Yet I often think about that saying. Does it apply to other things I “practice?” Classical guitar? Probably. If I learn bad technique to start it will become a bad habit to painfully break later. Exercise? Sure. Poor technique will not only keep me from getting the most out of an exercise, but can cause serious injury.
But writing? I’m not sure. And if not, what is it about writing, or anything else that doesn’t fit the saying, that’s different? Is it a matter of my end goal? In writing I may not know what the ideal form looks like. I can know what I want the writing to do, but that doesn’t mean I know what it will look like. So is it because I need to explore, because there isn’t an ideal technique, that I can’t worry about practicing perfect writing? Or am I approaching writing the wrong way? Is it less subjective than I see it? Can judges agree on a perfect 10 for a piece of writing, and if so would they agree as to why?
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2 comments:
I'm sure there exists an idea of what perfect communication is, but writing has the ability to transcend communication and become an art form in and of itself. I'd say it was mostly up to the personal criteria the reader uses to determine its worth. As far as effective writing practice is concerned, I think its a matter of developing the lucidity to achieve your intentions, even if you choose not to communicate "perfectly".
I give you perfect communication... bobdserious.blogspot.com
I think that Dave Pelz's version of the saying is closer to correct: "Practice makes permanent."
If you practice bad technique you ingrain it. If you practice bad writing, you may begin to like it, but still it will be bad. Because of the many forms of writing, formal, informal, correspondence, commentary, fiction, non-fiction, poetry, etc., there are times when it matters not how bad the writing is, only that the word gets out, that it effectively communicates your intentions, and bad style can be an intentional part of those. For instance, I use the word "ain't" in casual conversation often for its sound, its implication of plain-speaking, "I'm one of you" feel, and it is a conscious choice. It is an incorrect usage, a slang, but it cannot be said that it is not a word, and does not communicate the same thought as "isn't".
Writing is not like a handstand; there are many ways to write, but only one way to do a handstand. There are well-established criteria to judge how well a handstand is done, but simply reading literary criticism reveals how unestablished such criteria are for good writing. Good grammar is considered a fundamental, but it does not alone make your writing good, and can even interfere with communication.
It seems to me that writing has so many aspects that practice must be targeted to a desired goal. Perhaps you want to establish the habit of writing every day. In that case it doesn't matter what you write, but only that you do write to ingrain the habit. If you seek to write well, then you must establish criteria with which to judge what exactly writing well is. Is it effective writing? Is it fantastic? Does it arouse your intellect? Or your hindbrain? Is it enjoyable to your readers? So many aspects ... so little time ... catharsis ... communication ... beautiful sound ... beautiful thoughts ... invective ... as many aspects as there are words, eh?
My best criterion is that it be interesting.
REK
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