"On Writing"

For my media writing class we are required to blog about our reading assignment from a book called “On Writing” by Stephen King. I was not thrilled about reading the book in the first place and to have to blog about it made me hate the assignment even more. Well to my surprise the book was actually an easy read, which is rarely the case when it comes to required reading. I like the style King uses; it is as though he writes the way he talks. An interesting point he brings up in the beginning of his book is how writing is telepathy. It is true; writers are able to communicate with their readers through writing. He even uses an example having his reader picture a red cloth on a table, with a cage on top, a white rabbit inside and a number eight in blue ink on its back. King and his reader’s are connected by this image.
I have already learned a lot of things about writing from King including how to spell fuhgeddaboudit. In all seriousness, I learned how important it is to read and write a lot to be a good writer, to write about what you know and don’t lie.
One thing that really stuck in my mind after reading it was when King told the story about his son, Owen, being a fan of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band and learning how to place the saxophone. He paid for lessons for his son but he noticed that his son only practiced when his instructor required it. King wrote something that others may have read and thought nothing of… “If there’s no joy in it, it’s just no good.”