Dealing with a Poor Writer
To Avoid the Situation or to be Supportive?
My boyfriend is a lot of things: smart, handsome, funny...the list goes on. One thing he is not? A good writer. Now, let me give you some background information.
Alex is a fisheries major, meaning that the major portion of his college education has involved writing scientific papers. He plans on going for his Master's Degree, which means writing more scientific papers.
I've noticed a few things whenever he has to write anything...essays, papers, paragraphs. Hopefully I'm not the only one having to handle this, and hopefully I can help you!
Stuck in the Mud
Alex's number one fault that gets in the way of his writing is his inability to move on. I was always told that if you don't know something, move on and it will come to you. I used it in tests as well as my writing. There is no sense wasting your current time to just to MAYBE be able to come up with something. I was the absolute worse about bouncing around on tests and in papers. If I don't write down what is in my head, I'll lose it immediately.
Alex has difficulty moving on when he gets stuck. This tends to stress him out and make him angry. I do my best to help, but sometimes it just doesn't work.
What should you do? Give the person you are trying to help some space. People get over stress and difficult situations differently. I find that giving Alex some space for a little bit usually helps. He is either able to figure out what he wants to say or where he wants to go or he realizes that he does need my help and overcomes the anger and frustration. It's the hardest thing to do to just walk away when someone needs you, but sometimes it just needs to be done.
Editing
This is generally a touchy subject. There are certain times when he's okay with me going through and editing. However, sometimes he likes what he has written, even if it needs a little help. I generally try to stick with simple spelling and grammar errors. When a sentence or a paragraph really needs some help, I tend to step in. Just tread carefully so as to not hurt anyone's feelings.
Final Advice
My final advice to you is to just be supportive. People who have a difficult time writing generally hate it for a reason. Just do your best to help them along the way. It will work out best for everyone in the end.
