Good Writing

Good writing is a combination of many things.  The biggest aspect, however, has to be how the writing can grip the reader.  Whether this is by delivering a strong and powerful message, or by using vivid imagery to take the reader to a different world, the way that I look at good writing is whether the reader is engaged in the writing or not.  A professional writer can write a super detailed, perfectly edited paragraph.  If the writing doesn't grip the reader, however, then it is not good enough.  I mean, who wants to read something that is uninteresting?  Some people may disagree that good writing has to be  or exciting, however.  Some people may argue that good writing can be something as simple as poetry.  Not all poetry is gripping, entertaining, or even gramatically correct, but it can still be good writing.
              Today during class, I brought in my example of a good piece of writing.  The piece I brought is written by Augie Garrido, a champion head baseball coach at the University of Texas.  Even though he is a baseball coach, you don't need to know baseball to be touched and motivated by his writing.  In this piece, he explains how failure is just a, "pit stop on your road to success."  He gives readers a new perspective on failure, and how with the right mindset, nothing can stop you from being who you want to be.  Also in this paragraph is one of my all time favorite quotes, "When all you do is obsess over what went wrong, you're like a guy trying to drive a car forward by looking in the rearview mirror."