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Comment by AlexBlom | Hacker News Reader

Honestly, blog, blog and blog. After leaving school my writing went to crap. When I started blogging I was shocked at how bad my published materials sounded. Now that I'm blogging 2-3 times per week it has in all honesty refined me a tonne.

Practice makes perfect.

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I have to say that, while this makes sense on one level ("Practice makes perfect"), on another level it is dangerous. Let's say you have horrible grammar, bad ideas, and poor planning. Is it a good idea to plaster your blog posts on the internet? No.

As someone else said, "Read, read, read" is a guaranteed winner. Also reading books on how to become a better writer will help.

There's definitely a minimal level of skill needed before you start "Writing, writing, writing".

It's not good for the Internet, but it'll be good for the writer. Depends on how selfish you are.

> Let's say you have horrible grammar, bad ideas, and poor planning. Is it a good idea to plaster your blog posts on the internet? No.

Why not? The internet is full of pedants who will gleefully correct you.

When I came out of school, my English was fairly good for a non native speaker. But then I started blogging and I can't even believe how much it has helped me. With time I blogged less and less. And I realized my English is not improving anymore. So I agree that blogging is really a good way to improve your English.

And remember, the first revision is never the final version.

Refine Refine Refine.

Yeah, good point. Only Kerouac wrote in one draft. And he was a liar.

Don't be afraid of the 10th revision. Don't get attached to that witty phrase. If it's wrong it's wrong.

William Faulkner claimed to have written "As I Lay Dying" in one draft over the course of 6 weeks.

He was almost certainly lying.

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