3 Ways to Better Writing
Writing comes first.
“This isn’t a grammar class; it’s a writing class.” That is what a teacher said to me at the beginning of a writing class I took not too long ago. Like him, I break grammatical rules. All. The. Time. Like him, I know the rules. You need to know the rules to break them in a way that tells the reader; I know the rules.
Excellent grammar alone won’t attract readers.
And just because you say or think something doesn’t make it interesting to someone else. You can make it compelling through your writing. A great writer can make mowing the grass interesting if she finds a way to craft her message into something urgent.
Part of making it interesting is knowing when to break the rules. There are so many different ways to structure a sentence, a paragraph, a story, the possibilities are endless. Then, consider all the different word choices. There are approximately 470,000 words in the English language — endless possibilities.
You will have to write a lot of uninteresting stuff to find a way to make it interesting, and that takes a lot of writing.
Write great content.
Great content is what works on Medium, on a blog or in print, but how to get to that takes work, patience, and grit. You have to have the humility to put your average writing into the world, and the determination to stick it out, even when no one is reading — to get the experience that leads to great writing that is compelling and urgent for your readers to keep coming back.
You can read all the posts you want about how to gain followers, format your articles, and which power words to use to get people to click on your clever headline, but if the writing isn’t there, those things won’t matter.
If you want to get better at any skill from woodworking to sailing a yacht, you need to put in the hours, the same exact growth mindset applies to writing.
I’m not saying grammar isn’t essential, it is. And there are several books I recommend. The first two I’d start with are and The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. and Grammatically Correct by Anne Stilman. Both are excellent references for writers.
I would suggest actually reading them cover to cover, but you can also use them for reference material.
It is important to know the rules, so you can make calculated judgments on when best to break them.
1. “I’m an aspiring writer”
When I hear someone say, “I’m an aspiring writer,” it usually means, “I don’t write very much.” You are a writer if you write. You are a writer if you write and aren’t earning money. I was thrilled when I received my first payment from Medium, a whopping .01, I jumped up and down for joy. However, I was a writer before that sum hit my bank account with a thud. Be concerned with the verb and not the noun. Say, “I’m passionate about writing,” or “I love to write.” I would write if I didn’t get paid for it, and I have for many years. I wrote on Medium for five months before I saw a healthy chunk of money, but I was still a writer before my earnings increased. It was still rewarding when I didn’t make any money, maybe even more so because I was writing to write. I didn’t know if I would make any money, but I did the work anyway.
It is up to you to do the work.
When I called myself an aspiring writer, I didn’t write that much.
I would try, but it got hard, and I would stop.
Writing is not always exciting, it is drudgery. It is work. You need to do the work to cultivate the passion for getting the work done. When you do the work, you start to see, eventually, after putting in the time, that you are getting better, the fire that feeling ignites in you is what keeps you writing.
But you have to get there; first, you have to write. Stop calling yourself “aspiring.” You are a writer when you write.
There’s a theory floating around — I’ve read about in several blog posts — that finding your passion is bad advice. I disagree. Life is about passion.
If you are human, I’m willing to bet you have many passions. You need to have a passion for writing, you won’t be able to do it for money alone. It is too hard, too tedious, too much damn work. There are easier ways to make not that much money. Those who stick with it are passionate about writing.
The best writers would write for free, they can’t help it — they love to write.
If you’re having trouble finding “your passion,” remember that you most likely have more than one passion. You most likely have many things in life that are of interest to you.
A workaround to finding your passion is to find something that aligns with your interests, values, and beliefs. When you take a look at your interests, values, and beliefs, you will find that you can cultivate a passion for these interests.
Writing does all that for me. I write about what interests me, I bring my perspective from my values and beliefs. I also like to be challenged. You can challenge your writing, most of the time, there is room for improvement.
2. There is value in sharing
If you are uncomfortable with sharing your work, you will get the most value from sharing your work.
I wrote for years, sometimes every day, but I never shared work I didn’t have to share except for college papers and exams.
When I finally got the nerve up to share on a public platform, the feedback I received was invaluable. In that, it simply made me want to keep going, to keep reaching as a writer, and to keep getting better.
The worse didn’t happen.
I didn’t get laughed out of society. I keep receiving positive feedback, which keeps me reaching to get better. I would never have known this had I not shared in the first place.
If you’re trepidatious about sharing your writing, think about taking a writing class, even an online writing class. In class, the teacher will usually require you to share. Baby steps. This is one way of getting your feet wet and will make it easier to submit your work to publications and editors.
3. Distraction-free writing
When you sit down to write, don’t worry about word count or page count; just sit in a chair for one hour a day, no interruptions, and just write — distraction-free.
Do it as soon as you wake, this gives your creative process more access to the dream state and can free up the creative part of the brain.
When you write first thing, it is harder to make excuses to get out of your daily practice. Set the intention the night before, when I wake, I will write.
That is it. You will write. You have your computer set up and nothing else on your desk. You will wake and go to your desk and start typing.
When you write distraction-free, you will be amazed at how much you can get written. What is distraction-free? No email, phone, or internet — set the phone in a different room to eliminate as many distractions as possible.
You want it to be just you and the blank page.
Remember, when you write daily, there will always be bad days when you just can’t get much onto the page, sit there anyway. What you do day in and day out creates a habit. You can always tweeze out the good aspects of the work on the so-called bad days, there is one or ten ideas or sentences that come out of those bad days that are worth salvaging.
Just write.
It gets easier the more you sit in the chair. You will have good days and bad days, but there is no better feeling in the world when you get through on the bad days.
That is how you cultivate a passion.
Write on, dear reader.
Jessica is a writer, an online entrepreneur, and a recovering type-A personality. She lives in Los Angeles with her extrovert daughter, two dogs, and two cats.
