How to be a good writer ? - Part 1

I have always wondered how good some people write. The clarity of thought which is mapped into very appropriate sentences with the correct semantics conveying everything what needs to be conveyed in the most appropriate manner you think. Though not a voracious reader myself but except reading 3 newspapers daily and couple of magazines - I have noticed that good authors have great mastery not only on their subject but also on the flow of words.

What it takes to be good writer ? I am have been not able to find suitable answers . Is it an inherent talent or a skill that can be acquired. What does an average bloke like me do to able to write well. Another problem is what do I mean by "write well ". I dont intend to ac hive the greatness of Salman Rushdie ( read his books to believe ) or even Sri Aurobindo ( his thoughts are tooo profound for a moron like me ) , not counting the several people who have mastered this art in their respective fields. The qualities I like a good write up are

• Lucid - not much of a jargon ( I mean you are not writing a book for a medical student )
• Properly structured - This problem is rampant - you suddenly find articles ending without even a summary
• Binds the reader - I admire the novelists here - how they are able to get the reader hooked on 100s of pages through the plot mostly in case of fiction.(lots of them ) The challenge increases manifold in case of non-fiction thesis ( lots of these new age writers - paul coelho et all - they have been hugely successful - I have my doubts how many people have actually realised the potential)
• Grammer - Anyone if has come till this point reading this post will agree me with what I mean - Bad grammer or which is absent. You would hardly find wrong grammer in good write ups. ( Anyways please exclude Times of India - the quality here is something not worth spending time on - I have see some really bad instances for a national newspaper - Kudos to The Hindu)
• More to come ..

Even after having some insights on what could be a great write up - I still fail to measure up . I had once asked a someone how do cultivate this trait . He gave me just one advice - Keep writing what ever you can and atleast 500 hundred words a day.

The inspiration is this blog - and guinea pig - You " welcome to my blog"

The story doesnt stop here ... more to come . This is the age of sequels and I have planned one for this post already.

If you have any tips to offer - send them to me