The next ingredient for good writing is knowledge, this provides depth. It's one thing to be able to write what you see, it's another factor when you are able to interpret what you see. Providing key analysis and connecting ideas strings your observations and your knowledge together to create a more enjoyable experience for the reader. Being insightful will build a relationship with your readers and keep them coming back for more.
Two Types of Knowledge
It's a well known fact that there are two types of knowledge that exists. There's traditional "academic" knowledge, also known as "book smarts," and then there's "worldly" knowledge, otherwise known as "street smarts."
Hand in hand they make you a well round person with substantial insight into your topic of choice. Unbalanced, and you can only provide a biased perception of what you see. Unfortunately there are more people with one-sided knowledge then there are balanced, but even in "balance" you will find skeptics that still believe that each and every one of us will always perceive with more than the other, depending on our strengths.
I personally believe that a person can be well adjusted with both facets, and tackle any topic or situation with the right frame of mind.
Book Smarts
Spend enough time in school studying and reading and you will eventually acquire enough book smarts to provide factual context for your musings. Being able to refer to author's writings, measurements, and experiments all show proof that you have absorbed substantial book knowledge.
When writing, especially for others to read, it is important that you provide some point of reference to your expertise. Perhaps you teach, or are an author yourself, perhaps you've been interviewed several times, or asked to speak at prominent gatherings. Providing "book smarts" to your writing makes the context relevant to the reader and in turn educates them in the process.
Street Smarts
Their is a misnomer with "street smarts." You do not have to have lived on the streets, experienced a harsh upbringing, or have been impoverished at any point in life, thought there are lessons to be learned from this experiences as well; street smarts relies on a person's ability to associate and connect common sense ideas and situations.
Being quick on your feet and logically map out a course of action without becoming frustrated. Knowing how to get along in the world is the fundamental basis of "street smarts," and has nothing to do with survivability on your own. It's more a matter of how you communicate with others, how you carry yourself, how you conduct business, how you build trust, and most importantly how you live your life.
This type of knowledge is constant much like academic knowledge. You are always learning, always being introduced to new concepts as we grow both individually and as a community. Your unique take on all topics is formed by these two knowledge types.
Take a long look at yourself, how you approach things and how you interpret them. Learning is something even the animals of the world experience as they learn to adapt in an ever changing environment. Those that stop along the way become extinct, lost to the world that is ever progressing around them.
What has been the most influential thing you've learned in life thus far? Share, I'd like to hear.
Photo Credit, Michelle Brea
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