Monday, March 28, 2011

Write. Write badly. Write often.

As my friend and YA author, Linda Gerber, says on her blog this week – give yourself permission to write stuff that sucks. (Not a direct quote, but that was the gist of her message!)
Seriously. This is something I struggle with ALL THE TIME. I sit down to write – with very little, precious time available between work, kids’ sports, scrubbing toilets, feeding whatever children happen to be in my house at any given time, and cleaning up after a teenage dog and a geriatric cat – and I freeze.
I stare at my laptop. (First closed, then open but not on, then finally…booting up.) I run through an internal monolog that sounds something like this: “Time to write. TIME to WRITE. Ugh. Really? Maybe I should sweep the floor or wash something. NO! Write now! And it will be GOOD. It better be good. I don’t have time for it to suck. Who am I kidding? Of course it will suck! Why did I ever think I could/should/would be a writer anyway? IMPOSSIBLE! Even if it sucks…I need to write anyway…Good God! Why did I tell people I think I’m a writer?!? blah, blah, blah…”
Here is the cold hard truth: Writers write stuff that stinks. We all do. Some of us suck more than others…true. But all writers write that icky, flat, boring, ridiculous first draft. It isn’t the quality of the first draft that makes you a writer…it is the belief that no matter how it turns out, the act of putting words on the page, the faith that the story in your heard and your heart should be told, the certainty that you will keep writing no matter what – these are the things that make a writer.
So LET GO of that peevish inner critic who sits on your shoulder or on the arm of your favorite couch when you get out your laptop. Tell her to stuff a sock in it. Flick him off of his perch with a powerful wave of your pen. (It IS mightier than the sword, you know.)
Breathe deeply for a few minutes. Close your eyes. Sink into your story. Hear your characters’ voices and smell the road dust on their jackets. Taste the elderberry wine they drink and hear the bass line of their music. Then let your fingers do their work. Type or write…pound away or scrawl across the page.
And if it sucks…who cares? After all – you aren’t a writer until you actually WRITE something. Right?
Go on. You can do it. Believe. Carpe Keyboard, for heaven's sake.
Shoo. Go write.

11 comments:

  1. This is very true. Some days, the writing just doesn't flow. But I try to get it down anyway. At least then I have something to go back and work with the next day. And strangely enough, there are days when I think my writing sucks, but when I read it the next day, it's actually not bad at all. So I've learned that sometimes my mood can make things seem worse than they really are. Another reason to write everyday no matter how well you think it's going.

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  2. Good point, Kelly! Thanks for stopping by and pointing out that mood has a lot to do with this stuff...

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  3. Yes, I am a firm believer in the sh*tty first draft.

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  4. The most liberating moment of my career as a writer was deciding simply to write, accepting that it wouldn't be perfect first time. So much more fun that way. Probably the most professional, too, because that's what gets the first draft down.

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  5. I read somewhere that the first draft is the "vomit draft" just get it all out for goodness sake - improvements will come with the editing process!

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  6. A friend and fellow writer who once headed a local writer's group used to call that first draft "spewing" - just get it out no matter how good or bad it is. Editing comes later.

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  7. Agree 100%. To borrow a phrase I encountered in one of the writing forums I belong to --- "You are allowed to write utter poo." Constantly striving for perfection can be paralyzing. That's what revisions are for.

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  8. I think I'm going to start referring to it as the "sucky vomit spew draft"!! Or maybe "spewing the sucky vomit draft"?? Um. Maybe not. :)

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  9. Yeah, and what makes revisions fun is when you go back through that dreck and find a few scraps of really good stuff shining through.

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  10. Absolutely, Andrea! THAT is what makes it all worthwhile!

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  11. I really love this idea. Just letting the words flow freely and then worrying about it later is always the best. :)

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