Writers — I Believe Our Words Represent the Best of Us. Write It. Share It.
And be proud of your work!
Does this sound familiar?
You were done with your draft yesterday. You went to sleep. After a cup of coffee, you are ready to edit your work.
And then, that familiar sense of dread overcomes you.
The draft did not meet your mark.
You teeter on the line that represents the pride of an up-and-coming online writer.
Should you rewrite it? Should you sleep on it for one more day? Maybe toss it aside because it did not meet your expectations?
What do you do?
Stand Tall and Be Proud of Your Work
I know I am.
Writing is complex. It involves many variables, such as,
- Ideas
- Life experience
- Tonality of delivery
- Thoughts in Motion
- Positive psychology
- Readers’ taste
- Our message
- Relevance
Each of these variables, alone, can drive us up the wall. No kidding.
I routinely reflect on my writing. I would read the published pieces and find ways to silence my inner critics. I’m good enough, you asshole. Stop your criticisms!
It never fails to become an exercise for article betterment.
I would strike through, cross out, circle, double-box, rewrite, re-express, and re-orientation. 30 minutes later, I would walk out of my room with an edited draft on top of an existing article.
I would be happy. I always do.
I know, then, that was my best work. There was no way I could do better that day.
When Our Inner Voice Gets Too Loud
You know it when it happens.
You start thinking like a Grammar Nazi, and Expression Assassin. I don’t behave like the former. Fortunately, my Grammar sucks. Self-Nazi’ing is impossible.
I am an Expression Assassin.
I like to taste my words. The conveyance, the feelings, the punch.
- “This is my message. Would the reader get it or misunderstand it?”
- “I sound negative here. Is this the vibe I want to send?”
- “An allusion. Can the reader relate to this experience?”
I can do back and forth in the editing room with no end in sight. I mean it.
Editing takes up more than 50% of my time. Drafting? A mere 35%, roughly speaking.
I battle myself inside me.
For flow, I concede to my Inner Voice. It is right. When the article is broken, readers cannot follow. They swipe left.
For better stories, examples, and quotes to be used — I say this to my Inner Voice.
“There will always be better stories. It is okay. This is a relevant story.”
I learned to parley with the enemy within.
Getting It Out
I have this strange idea when it comes to writing.
Get it out. Worry about tomorrow, tomorrow.
Here’s why.
Writing, to me, is a relentless process of ideation and experience pruning. We will never have a complete library of life experiences to curate from.
What happens when the best story for today’s article is due to happen 3 months later?
How would you know that that story will happen?
Plus, why wait?
You see… life for us will be wildly different 3 months from now. Just look back in time. The world looked different in January 2023, right?
It was a different season. You could be in another country. Or company. Maybe you went from an existing job to becoming jobless, to working another job.
3 months ago, synthesizing the above experience into writing would be impossible. It hasn’t happened. Today, you can.
Get it out.
Write your best story. Today.
Because the best spin to your story will not happen tomorrow. Remember this. Writing is a function of cumulative experiences, hours on the craft, and our skill set development.
Yes, writing is a skill.
It takes years to develop.
Avoid keeping your stories for future years. You will run out of storage space. And it takes a long time to thaw it from our passive memories.
Doing Your Best Is Your Best
I subscribe to doing my best.
Is my best the absolute best? Nope.
I used to write for the lungless. I’m a comma scrouge.
I love long sentences because I believe in a complete expression of ideas. I go back and forth on the pros and cons, this and that.
And then, one day, I received a DM from my Organization Behaviour professor. She told me this.
“I like your article ideas. But you ought to give me a chance to breathe. It is hard to follow a barrage of words within a barrage of words.”
I took that to heart. Today, I keep my sentences as short as possible.
I aim to be concise. Less is beautiful. And be a friend of bullets.
I know I am 0.1% better than yesterday when I build mindfulness as I write. That represents my best effort.
Tomorrow will be better, of course.
But that is the story for tomorrow.
Parting Keynotes
Writers are harsh on themselves.
I know because I am.
There is no need to cross that invisible red line. We are at our best today. Our latest writing is a mixed pot of fresh ideas, tip-top expression, and concise message conveyance.
It took us many years to get to where we are to write that article today.
Celebrate it.
This is your best work.
… Until the next one.
As a content contributor, I write my daily life observations and business exposure. Our life experience is the bedrock of our unique perspectives.