It sounds simple enough, right? Well, if I’m truthful I would say that’s a loaded question. Yes, you can write. You can write about anything, whether it be the weather, the frustration of training your dog, your nosey mother-in-law, or even the dinner you burnt the night before. There’s always something to write about and oddly enough, I’m certain I’ve seen blogs on all of them. So now what?
Now you read. I reposted this earlier from writer Charles French, a fabulous addition to the blogging community by the way, and if you scroll through my blog you will see it several more times as well. Read. Read. Read. First of all, reading is good for you in general. It increases intelligence and boosts your brain power. It can make you more empathetic and help you to relax, plus it’s been proven to help fight Alzheimer’s disease. You can find the full article here Science Backed Reasons to Read a Book. Some claim that reading a real book, meaning one with physical pages, is more beneficial and that may be true. For me, however, the key is simply reading no matter how you go about it. Besides all of the great benefits listed above, reading is extremely beneficial to writers, especially if you plan to write publicly. Find a style you like, different ways to play on words and develop strong sentence structures, character qualities, etc. The sky’s the limit!
This really doesn’t need an explanation, but I’ll give it a go. Ernest was a smart man. Do not expect to be left gasping for breath whilst wiping away tears of joy when you read your rough draft. You’ll cry alright, but more than likely it won’t be from elation at the golden nugget set before your eyes. Instead, you may find yourself asking ‘what is this garbled junk?’ or ‘I didn’t write that, did I?’. You’ll be amazed at the time spent pressing the delete key. You’ll probably even be astonished at the missed words and punctuation errors. It will be shit, just as dear old Ernest predicted. Get used to it now, or you’ll be sorely disappointed later.
Well, it doesn’t get any better than that, does it? I blogged about this a few weeks ago which you can find here Why Do You Write? In this post, I talk about dropping the expectations and learning to just write. How freeing it is to let go of the pressure, mostly put upon us by ourselves, and how that can improve your writing. Should you shoot for the stars and dream big? Absolutely. Should you want to sell millions of copies and be on the New York Times Bestseller list? Sure, why not! But if you write with the sole purpose of achieving those goals or else, then you’ve set yourself up for failure before you’ve even begun. Write with the premise that even if those things never come to pass, you’ll be okay. And you will.
Ah, and there it is… the silver lining. Letting go and learning to accept that it is what it is. Be resilient and brave, for there is a light at the end of the tunnel! Fortunately, we’re all cut from a different cloth and what works well for one doesn’t necessarily work for well for another. Don’t be deterred if that’s the case. Write for yourself first and foremost and the rest will fall into place with practice!
Great post. We have to write poorly before we write well.
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Yes, thank you! Writing poorly seems to come natural, but a little improvement each day is worth it.
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The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.
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I know I’ve said this to you before, but I feel it’s worth mentioning again. You have an amazing way with words and I thoroughly enjoy reading your blog. Thank you!
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Thank you so much. I have some crazy stuff going on today. It’s kept me pretty busy.
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well, an extra thanks of gratitude then for taking the time to compliment my post 🙂
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I haven’t read as many posts as usual, but I dedicated 30 minutes to catching up.
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Thank you twice: for writing an excellent post and for your kind words!
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You are more than welcome! Thank you for the inspiration and being a part of my blogging family!
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Yes, yes, yes, to all these wonderful quotes. One I hadn’t seen before that I’m going to take to heart is John Green’s “I give myself permission to suck.” Good one!
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Thanks, Eve!!
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Thank you Kelly for an inspirational post.
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You are more than welcome. We all need a pick me up every now and again and today was just one of those days!
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This is good! The thing I tell people that want to write or blog is that nothing comes out og your brain Barnes & Noble ready. You have to put in the time and be prepared to start from scratch occasionally.
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Absolutely! It does take time, but every day of practice will eventually get you there. Good advice you’re giving others! 😊
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Thank you!
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