Writing for Dummies

I’ve had a chance now to look back at several writings I’ve compiled over the last 5 years or so. The offerings are pretty slim there from 2011 to 2012, like searching for sea shells at the community pool. I graduated from college in 2012 and after that my writing began to improve a bit more. I determined to write more often but I held out on establishing a rigorous goal, a certain amount of words per week or so. I think I was genuinely worried about losing the passion for writing and missing that inspiration. I didn’t want writing to become homework, something to dread and avoid at all cost. That kind of thinking was nonsense. If we only worked when we felt like it how much would honestly get done?

 It’s the lazy man’s way out to talk about passion and inspiration. I figured that out the hard way.

I had a friend in college who majored in classical guitar. No one worked harder at practicing. He put in countless hours playing in his room and learning new techniques (is that a musical thing, not sure). I don’t think engineering or physics students put in as much time as him in the actual pursuit of excellence. Engineering is hardly an easy path but no one dedicated more time than the music majors. I don’t know if he stuck with it till graduation. I kind of lost touch with him after that year in the dorm. I know he had days when he didn’t want to practice for hours at a time but the discipline demanded he improve by putting in work. He wanted to be a great guitar player. He understood what it took.

If I broke down my previous writing into 3 segments it would probably look like this. First couple years I just needed to put something, anything into words whatever the format. I made a conscience decision to ignore all grammatical errors and focus on nothing but filling up a page with words. The essay needed to reflect a coherent thought but beyond that I wouldn’t get caught ‘churchin it up’. “For God’s sake man, just write it” was the idea. I knew if I focused on spelling or subject/verb agreement stuff I would never finish. Getting hung up on perfect grammar was a mental block for me. Now I can write much more carefree and go back later for edits.

Second, I knew that writing essays only once a month or so would lead to a pile of crappy essays. Here is where the ‘but what if I lose the passion’ instinct kicked in. People who are good have to work at it, whatever the discipline. I remembered my guitar strumming friend playing late into the night while staring at sheet music in his dorm. I wasn’t ready for hours of staring at a computer screen, but I could certainly do better than I was. I still hadn’t set specific goals but I managed to start writing every week, after that a couple times a week. I started doing the blog as a way to keep myself accountable and put out ideas that are edited and coherent-ish.

Third, I’ve started writing about things I didn't understand well by doing small amounts of research and putting together web blogs, some freelance work writing for companies that need copy. This phase is still in its infancy but making sense of topics I don’t fully understand is kind of fun. And I get to stretch myself a bit into other types of writing, and learning. It doesn’t pay well but the point is to get better and improve all around. I still mostly write practice logs for myself. I read the book On Writing: A memoir of the Craft by Stephen King and got the idea to write to a word count. King does at least 2000 words a day. I was thinking half of that to start out, not sure though.

So what have I learned so far about writing, and myself? Write when you don’t feel like it and make it as regular a habit as brushing your teeth. Sometimes it is dreary and my only concern is to get in the word count as quick as possible so I can go watch TV. The really dreary times are not as frequent though and I’ve found the more consistent the practice, the more I look forward to it.

Habitual activities designed to improve skill do pay off.

My classical guitar pal could have told me that years ago. If only I had asked.