How to Make Writing Super EASY Even If You DREAD Writing
From Torture to Treasure: The Wild Ride of Loving Writing
I hate writing; I hate writing, I hatttttte writing. Okay, shhh, sit down; you’re embarrassing us.
I hear you. You hate to write, and so do I. Don’t look at the number of my followers or the top-notch articles I create. When it comes to writing them, it’s like dragging me to heaven when all I seek is to be in hell.
You see what I did just now? I’m not writing; I’m bluffing. But in the process, I’m turning my bluffing into writing and making it a bit interesting for someone who’s got ten minutes on their hands to do nothing but read an article about nothing. Because, as a matter of fact, no matter what you write, your reader will forget it in a few seconds and move on to the next. You get my point, right? Don’t take yourself or your writing too seriously. That’s how you write effectively. But wait, don’t leave yet because I’m not finished. I’ve got a couple of tips to throw your way when it comes to writing your stuff in a way that grabs people and makes them care about what you have got to say.
Let me start with the first trick, and at the end of this piece, I will give you what you really need to excel in this writing thing, even if you don’t like it.
Focus with me. Why are you writing? I mean, why on earth would you spend a couple of hours daily to tell someone something you think is important? This “why” defines everything. If you are writing online for money, then you are probably either an expert on your topic and you know what to say but lack the “how” of saying it, or someone hiding behind the screen using AI or copying other people’s stuff to post online. In that case, you don’t have to worry about the craft of writing because you are not writing in the first place.
However, if you are writing to practice writing, connect with people, and share your life experience, then here is where the fun is. Here is where you have to worry less about the “how” and just write. And here is why: Too much discipline kills the fun, and when there is no fun, there will be little to no motivation to write. Imagine yourself as frozen as a penguin in the harshest of winters trying to mate. God, that thing is stiff as hell. It’s not gonna happen, or you are gonna break that thing. I just wanna make sure you know I’m talking about that little thing! wink
With writing, if you are not having fun, then forget it and go do something that is fun because, without fun, you are either going to break your motivation, the screen, or your “LITTLE” finger. Wait, maybe if you are strong a bit, you might break the wall. But I doubt little fingers that feel pressing the keyboard is too heavy to break a piece of paper, never mind a wall. Here is another wink.
Anyway, let’s get back to the main topic. When you have no fun with writing or any creativity skill, you have shot the angel of writing straight in the head without giving him or maybe her the chance to whisper a word of creativity in your ears.
I come from a business background, and I hated this sophisticated thing called writing. I have always seen writers as sophisticated and complicated people who talk a lot but say little. I have tried all the rules of writing, and I have come to the conclusion that the best rule for writing is to follow zero rules and just write.
Write things however they come to your mind, no matter how they hit your imagination or which direction they come from. Don’t worry about their sex, nationality, or physical attributes. Don’t be someone from the street trying to be a philosopher just because you were invited to a graduation party.
I had a friend who had 0 Fahrenheit skill in writing; for those who use the Celsius system, that’s -17. The guy’s writing skills are freezing. If you made him choose between a bullet in the head and writing, I bet he would hold the gun and shoot himself straight in the head.
Yet the strange thing is that he really wanted to share his experience with diet. The guy had a special experience and thinks the world might benefit from it. He also thinks writing could help him find balance and space to release his life stress.
I sat with the poor guy and asked, “Why don’t you start writing?” Can you guess what his first response was? “I don’t know how to write.” I said, “What on earth do you mean you don’t know how to write?” I handed him a piece of paper and a pen and asked him to write his name. He laughed, then he did. So, I slapped him on his neck and landed an airplane on it. It was a hard landing, though. And when I heard the “ouch,” I said, “You see, you know how to write, don’t you!”
Then I asked him to tell me what he wanted to share but to tell it to me from his point of view as he went through the experience. Once he finished, I said, “Take that ‘whatever stuff’ and write it just as you told it to me. Once you are done, find Grammarly, tell it the big boss ‘Nour’ sent you and ask him to fix your writing mistakes, then publish your stuff, and never look back.”
You see, we humans are complex; we try to complicate everything and give it a rule. We complicate the uncomplicated; we fuck the unfuckable. If something we can’t find a hole in, we dig one. We over-sophisticate and create holy books for every simple thing. This freezes us and makes us too sophisticated when we have to be simple, fun, and easy-going.
So, here is my final advice for you: if you don’t like writing, don’t write. Or write but with fun and give no damn about what you write until you become good at it. Trust me; this is the best advice I wish I had known the first day I started writing. Other than that, don’t bother and forget writing.
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— © Nour Boustani 2024