A Writing Tutorial

The art of blending ideas for a well-highlighted article.

I’m no wizard nor word-Wonderwoman when it comes to this matter, I can only share how writing has gone so far for me. There are a bunch of tips and tricks I’ve explored like many of you. Some didn’t work and others turned out to be to a game-changer as what Parmigiano Reggiano is to Risotto, so as to bring creativity to the physical realm.

If you wake up on words in your mind as you take your first sip of coffee, and get wasted on them in happy hours by dusk; you got hooked on writing. Welcome to the club!

Work out your Creative Organ

Everything begins with a thought. Sometimes it’s not even a thought rather than wooly words inside your mind with a high adrenaline rush. That’s how you know you’re up to something big.

From where I stand, I explored two essential elements to boost creativity: Light Trance and Mindfulness.

Apparently, Light trance is a technic used in hypnosis. I realized that I’ve been doing it without even knowing that it was actually a thing, and probably so do you! Light trancing intends a deep state of relaxation. You’re getting away from your consciousness and dive into your subconscious; you can even realize a bunch of things about yourself down the process.

Light trancing allows you to unveil thoughts you thought you didn’t have. It heightens your focus and can boost your productivity. I’m no specialist in hypnosis; but, I realized that I’ve been light-trancing myself during my stretching and breathing session after working out, or when I am in a completely quiet environment.

Then comes the opposite process, Mindfulness. This is when you enhance your focus regarding everything that surrounds you. Here is how it goes: you know the things you do today, the day after, and so on until you reach the point of not paying attention anymore. Making coffee, washing the dishes, your regular walks, carrying the keys on your way out, these are some of the routines you do without putting your consciousness into play.

You need to practice self-awareness once in a while for random stuff too, it allows you to see things from a different angle. You start paying more attention to details like what your salad looks like. Those details may not be essential for your survival, but they’re vital to feed your creativity.

I’m no psychologist nor a neuroscientist, I’m just talking about my own experience. If you work out regularly to build some muscles, then light-trancing and mindfulness are your daily creativity’s work out.

Time is NOT your ally!

You’re working, cooking, working out, about to sleep, or whatever activity you’re engaging in, then out of the blue, It’s prophecy time: the creative process is taking over you. You know, confused ideas, images, words, rhymes, or anything where there is a window of opportunity for original work. So, you convince yourself that you will get back to it when you finish whatever you’re doing.

That’s a HUGE MISTAKE! Never say I’ll write it down later because time is not your ally. That moment of intuition is linked to your working memory, which might fail you to hold onto that idea longer as you hope.

The next time you go through idea-poiesis, run and write, or least take notes of what your brain is whispering to your senses. The way it comes out in that particular moment, and how it makes you feel is unlikely to happen twice.

Since I don’t carry my laptop all the time, and since I hate my phone keypad, I always keep a diary on me to make sure that my thoughts won’t be forgotten. If I ever forgot to carry a pen, I make a recording to make sure nothing slips by.

Honesty is your best friend

Every time I try to write about something that doesn’t feel like me, I end up throwing it in the trash. Honesty is what makes you reliable and credible. The integrity of your plume is everything. Lose that, and you’re done!

Speaking up your mind doesn’t necessarily mean getting more popular. Sometimes, it’s quite the other way around. As an example, your reading time, it’s not because you read an article that it means that you agree with it. In my case, if I profoundly disagree, I will definitely leave a comment. I’d respectfully tell the writer that I agree to disagree and why so; the writer can do the same as he reads my work.

Then when it comes to your own work, there are two scenarios. If you’re going to criticize something you don’t like that doesn’t personally involve you, that’s easy breezy. However, if you’re going to criticize your own community, religion, culture… that’s a tough one. So what matters to you becomes a legit inner conflict:

Keeping your readers happy or unveiling your insight and lose support?

The mass media follows a specific pattern, which according to the German political scientist Elizabeth Noelle-Neumann is a spiral, the spiral of silence. When you carry a deviant point of view that doesn’t align with the ‘’public opinion’’, there is an invisible spiral that drags you down, preventing you from speaking up your mind.

As for me, I set my mind quite a long time ago. Freedom of speech is non-negotiable regardless of how unconventional or unpopular your ideas are! My writing motto is integrity and respect. You don’t have to offend people to make your point, but if people are easily provoked, there is nothing you can do except to accept it and move on.

After all, you can’t please the entire humanity, no one can. So, you’ll have to make your peace with it, respectfully!

Make the most of your Illustration

Your articles should include pictures and illustrations to make your work appealing. So picking THE picture is not something you’re going to accomplish in 2 minutes.

First, Unsplash and other websites offer plenty of options; I use them quite a lot. But, here is the thing, if you pick that picture, so can everyone! For instance, with #Blacklivematters protestings, many articles started displaying the same photo. It may not be a big deal, but the uniqueness of your work somehow slips away.

Second, take your time to find THE picture, don’t hasten to the first one websites display to you. Your choice doesn’t always have to be the obvious one. For instance, when I wrote Quotes by concentration camp survivors, the most straightforward pick would have been an illustration of Auschwitz, a yellow star of David, or the nazis cross. Yet, choosing an unusual picture can also display your creativity and bring something more valuable to your work.

Finally, illustrations are supposed to help you enhance the visibility of your work, so be accurate about picking them. Don’t go for the expected pic, nor the one out of context. Unfortunately, we live in a visual world. So, that illustration could be the reason why someone clicks or keeps scrolling down.

Take your time

Write drunk & Edit sober.

Ernest Hemingway

When you write the last sentence of your work, it absolutely doesn’t mean that you’re done. You need to sober up for the next phase: editing your work. Nothing explains this better than the Muffin analogy.

I love my chocolate muffins, I make them with love, give them the right heat, and I never rush them when baking. Then, when I take them off the oven, I let them cool for a while before daring to taste them. Not because I will get burnt or anything, but because I know that I will enjoy them more when they cool. Words are exactly like muffins.

You don’t rush them, you give them all the time they need to grow, typing is a hot burning process, they need to cool afterward, so you’ll have a better idea if they taste good in your ears and mind.

And unlike muffins, you can make them better!

Time grants you perspective! So, embrace it and don’t rush into publishing! You can find more about it in the 5R I shouldn’t have ignored before submitting to publications.

The long haul

You need to promote your work. Unfortunately, I’m not the best person who can give advice about this, but I’m in some Facebook groups with many Mediumers who can. Join these groups, share your work, read people’s work, and ask questions!

Medium Facebook groups: Medium writing, Womxn of Medium, Medium dreamers, Medium mastery, Medium writers, Medium writers lounge, Medium writers, and bloggers…

I appreciate the genuine kindness of some writers I got to know thanks to these groups like Jordan Mendiola, Zainab Jafri, and Arjan Tupan. Then I found out that I share a mutual experience with other writers like Connie Song, Anne Bonfert, and Stephen Dalton.

So yes, not having a writing buddy is ok. However, it’s much more gratifying to be part of a writing community with whom you share experiences, jokes, reflections, and above all, the passion of writing.

The takeaway

Each one of us has his/her own rhythm, tips, routines, and gri-gri to engage in writing. There is no specific pattern to boost your creativity, but you can always try different things to see how the outcome will be. Time is a game-changer, so use it wisely. Most importantly, write as much as you can.

Practice polishes.

As for me, I’ll definitely take your tips into account, so if you want to share them, be my guest.

Thanks for showing up!

Sara