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Writing on Teaching Yourself to Write

Time and again, I’ve written about written about ‘writing‘ on this blog, so much so that people have asked me if I’m a writing coach.

That is one career path towards which I have below zero interest, mostly stemming from the unspoken yet amply felt statement, “Those who can’t write, teach.”

Not true, I know, quite a few good writers are teachers.

But still, the only person I’ll ever teach is myself, and I have a lot to learn. I have recently been inspired by writers who have taught themselves to write, and though I’m very open to mentoring, I think self-teaching can have its own intrinsic worth, when it comes to writing.

On another note, recently found an interesting article by the author of the memoir that inspired the movie “An Education.” She makes a lot of sense, this author, about writing from memory.

I think that is one thing yours truly needs to teach herself: to take notes so that she would have something to fall back on, when her memory fails her.

Damyanti Biswas

Damyanti Biswas is the author of You Beneath Your Skin and numerous short stories that have been published in magazines and anthologies in the US, the UK, and Asia. She has been shortlisted for Best Small Fictions and Bath Novel Awards and is co-editor of the Forge Literary Magazine. Her literary crime thriller series, the Blue Mumbai, is represented by Lucienne Diver from The Knight Agency. Both The Blue Bar and The Blue Monsoon were published in 2023.

I appreciate comments, and I always visit back. If you're having trouble commenting, let me know via the contact form, or tweet me up @damyantig !

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2 Comments

  • Damyanti says:

    Strange how both of us read the same article. I loved your post, because my current short story is all about memory.

  • Arti says:

    I've just seen 'An Education' recently and later discovered Lynn Barber's article on writing from memory in Granta. I've got so much out of it that I wrote a post about it too… one interesting point is her mentioning Nick Hornby's ability to write from a 16 year-old girl's POV. I've also a movie review of 'An Education' up if you're interested. Thanks for a really interesting and informative blog!