Writing Well is Hard

As I have mentioned before, I am in the middle of applying for bunch of graduate schools here in California. Therefore I needed to write an statement of purpuse. I am not done with it yet. I have given it to my brothers and sister in law and my current boss to read it and perhaps suggest some changes here and there. Well my oldest brother simply said it ain't good! "It doesn't have a good flow" he said. "Flow" seems to be the most important issue in writings. Going from one sentence to the next, or from one paragraph to another has to be right. It has to feel right. The read should not have to read sentences more than once to understand the writer. I realized sometimes, well many times, I think I am clear in what I try to say. I think I got the "flow" going on in my writings. But I am wrong. Just because I understand clearly what I am saying doesn't mean others do. Just becasue I, as the writer, feel the "flow" doesn't mean the readers also do. It reminded of the first few presentations I gave at my current work. I thought the material I presented was clear. I thought anyone could understand them easily. I was completely wrong! But I learned. I made sure the material is indeed clear, and understandable. Then people were happy with my presentations. So, from now on whenever I write something, I read it myself. And I read it again. Hopefully this way, I get the "flow" going on.