Writing For You

I was chatting with one of my best friends the other day about her struggles in writing. One of her biggest challenges is that she is too afraid of what people might think. It blocks her creative pathways, stops her from sharing more of herself. Being self-conscious and afraid are the killers of creativity. Could a theatre actor walk out on stage every night and give a great performance if they were overwhelmed with what every audience member was thinking? Or could a singer belt out a hit if they were overthinking every note? Probably not.

The very essence of writing is defined by getting out of your head and onto the page. You've just got to let things go. There is always time for editing later, but the first thoughts, the first few bursts of an imagined world, of a character description, of an emotion, that's where the magic lives. Imagine publishing your journal. Most of us would cringe at the thought! That is the kind of truth you want to find in your writing though. I find that the most personal and vulnerable topics are the ones that we find ourselves connecting with because there really are fundamental things inside us that call out to one another. I like to think of it as part of our shared humanity.

I love the quote I have above because it gets at the censorship we apply to our writing to avoid embarrassment, and with that filter we also lose a rawness to our words. When you find yourself getting caught up in thoughts of judgement and the criticism, remember a few things:

Everyone else is way too concerned about what everyone else is thinking of themselves to give you too much thought. And if they did, what's the worst thing that could happen? Someone might say something negative, and you might feel badly about it. And you will also be presented with an opportunity. The criticism might be constructive, and you might learn something about writing that you can apply to your next piece that will make it better. Or it might just be plain mean, and there you get to challenge yourself to rise above hate and soldier on. Or, someone might say something fantastic about your writing, which is both gratifying and terrifying. You might start comparing your work against itself when one piece gets attention and another one doesn't. Just because you write one great thing doesn't mean your next one has to be or will be at the same level. I am constantly deleting things or just shoving ideas away when they don't work out. Sometimes you get a hit, sometimes you get a flop. So when you write something where no one says anything, when you get no reaction, dig into it a little. Be determined to find the rawness you need to really connect and inspire conversation.

Write for yourself. If you aren't writing for you, then what are you doing? What is the point of forcing yourself to be creative? If your livelihood is depending on it, that's different. But if you are writing for pleasure, for passion, you want those words to flow out of your fingertips, not get dragged out by some feeling of obligation. Writing is catharsis, expression, excitement! You shouldn't feel like you are slogging through a piece just to get one out. You should write what you want, when you want, and write it like no one else is going to read it.

To clarify, I am not saying you shouldn't do at least a little bit of writing that perhaps isn't as passionate. There is a difference between forcing out an article/story/character when you aren't feeling inspired, and practicing your craft. The same way you need to exercise to keep your muscles strong, you need to challenge your brain to keep it sharp and use your writing muscles to keep them developing and adapting. When I wasn't writing articles consistently, I tried to write for 5 minutes a day and I gave myself little exercises. Like, this time include dialogue or action, or focus on the character description or the landscape. It doesn't matter what you write about, as long as you're writing.  Even if you sit down and write about a tree, describe it so that someone could really see that tree, touch it, smell it. I let myself fall out of this habit, but when I was doing it, I actually ended up with some really great small pieces. Even though sometimes I would sit down and feel like I had nothing to say, it felt good to discipline myself, especially with writing that wasn't for anyone else. It's like the workbook they give you in Math class that is just for practice problems. You don't hand it in, it's not a test, it's just making sure you are doing the work. And except when we are so inspired that an entire piece just pours out of us, writing can be real work. Writer's block is real, and can make us feel like the words will never flow again. We have to be the current and electrify the page, like the waves of an ocean, we have to keep crashing until the sand is smooth enough to compose  in with our fingertips. 

Do it for you, and then share it anyways.