How I Write More — And Better

Some ways I overcome writing challenges.

I may have considered myself a writer for years, creating poetry and short stories, never feeling anything but joy in the practice of my art.

And then I get my first deadline, and it’s a term paper on the most boring subject I could ever imagine, and I discover that writing isn’t always the most wonderful activity in the universe.

Often, writing can seem like a chore. And even if I want to write, I might find myself experiencing dreaded “writer’s block”. There are ways to defeat it, but that is another story.

What do I do to readjust the way I see writing?

Does writing have to only exist in 2 separate categories: Writing I want to do, and writing I don’t want to do?

Find a Passion For the Subject

No matter what it is I need to write about, there is almost always a way for me to approach it that makes it mean something to me. It’s up to me to discover that path.

Perhaps I need to write a story about the history of tunnels in transportation for an engineering class. On the surface (pun intended) this might seem astoundingly dull to me. But I just need to delve deeper (whoo-hoo, pun two!) and I may be able to find something that makes tunnels exciting. Maybe I am a big Elon Musk supporter, and I like the Hyperloop concept.

Well, he’s trying to revolutionize tunnelling with his Boring Company. There’s my “in”.

Treat Writing Like a Real Skill

Well, it certainly is a skill. But most people don’t think of it like that. A lot of people who consider themselves writers don’t even think of it like that.

Writing is as much an improvable, practicable skill as wood carving, parenting, or playing the cello. It needs to be used and evaluated and grown over time. Yet all too often writing is taken for granted. Just like flying a plane, I can put my writing on autopilot, just coast along on the air currents, and be content with wherever I end up. Or I can take the yoke and actually fly.

It takes years of actual practice to even begin to approach any level of mastery. So I take my writing seriously.

Be Active in My Pursuit

By “active”, I mean in every sense of the word. Moving and doing are best friends of the writer.

Join like-minded people in writer’s groups, in real life or online. Find people who are excited about the subject I need to write about and get together with them to help me discover new angles from which to approach it.

Does my book involve spelunking? Get talking to some spelunkers! Is the Louvre a major location in my novel? Do my best to schedule a trip to Paris. Whatever I can do to involve myself in what my writing is about, I figure out a way to do it.

Make Writing a Habit

There are good habits and bad habits. I look at “not writing every single day” as a bad habit to fall into. So I’ve made a promise to myself that I will write every single day, and I do my best to follow through.

Some people give themselves a word requirement (300, 500, 1000, more). That isn’t really the important aspect of this. In fact, there are no strict details to adhere to other than “write all the time”.

Even if I don’t have a waterproof notepad in my shower stall, I can compose description and dialogue as I scrub-a-dub. As I’m out for my daily 3-mile jog I can dictate words into an app. If I have a particularly tough day and get home at ten minutes to midnight having written nothing, I still have ten minutes to write.

Bonus Tip:

Read more. Nearly everyone needs to read more. And read different things. It is far too easy to get entrenched in one subject or genre and wind up using 80% of my reading time there.

But if I focus on widening my scope I will find myself exposed to subject matter, vocabulary, and POVs that expand my mind and broaden my own writer’s toolset.