Technology Does Not Make You A Better Writer

I started thinking about this recently as I was looking at some of the curriculum choices the school district I also work for was using and promoting. I honestly have to say, the higher ups really are obsessed with technology! And with every introduction, the comment those not in the classroom make is the same thing. This technology will get those students learning better! It will improve test scores.

And I am sorry to say, they are wrong. It is not the tools the students are given, but the learning that takes place. It is how well the teachers teach and how well the students interpret the information.

Now, I do not want to get on a rant of many of the pathetic choices I have seen schools do. Instead, I want to cycle this right back to all of you writers.

Writers have gotten sucked into this same obsession over technology. You cannot attend a conference, open up a writing periodical, or get online without someone proclaiming this new piece of technology, or this new software that will make your writing amazing. Even the publishers push this idea with the technology they are promoting that will help authors market books in such a way that sales will be phenomenal. Sorry to say this, but it is not going to help.

Good writing comes from practice and learning to write. These organizational software programs that proclaim an amazing ability to allow you to write the perfect story are forgetting one simple fact. It takes your brain. It takes your ability to know how to write a great story and to be able to also execute the story.

So, before you go out and dive into this new technology, check first your ability to write. You may find you would be better off spending that money taking quality writing courses or finding some great writing books to teach you to write.