✨ The Greatest Writing Myths of ALL
Don't fall for these! (We all do.)
Hi writer,
You know I love to love you and the writer you are today, with no need to change. It’s true. You’re a writer, and you’re worthy. Whether you’re writing or not, you’re doing great, my friend.
But love sometimes also takes the form of a gentle nudge, so let’s bust some of the greatest writing myths, shall we?
It’s a bad time. I’ll write more when I’m less busy.
I know, this is a rough one, that’s why I’m leading with it. I say this with love: You’re not too busy.
Not long ago, I had a single mother in my 90 Days to Done class who had (I’m not making this up): four children under 10, two jobs (gahhh), and a chronic health condition. She wrote her book in 5-15 minute chunks of time. She finished it. (She’ll be reading this essay, so hi, LT! You’re doing awesome with revision! There’s no hurry!)
John Scalzi said,
So: Do you want to write or don’t you? If your answer is “yes, but,” then here’s a small editing tip: what you’re doing is using six letters and two words to say “no.” And that’s fine. Just don’t kid yourself as to what “yes, but” means.
His whole blog post on this is more tough-love than I’ll be here, worth a read if you need more convincing.
You have time. There is some point during your day where you have 10 minutes when you’re waiting for something else. Use that time if it’s all you have.
I’ll write more when I’m a better writer. I need to learn more.
I will think this for the rest of my life. I write anyway. That’s the trick.
I’m a better writer than I used to be, but that’s only because I wrote myself into being a better writer.
We’ll always feel like our reach exceeds our grasp. That’s the way it should be.
The day we know we’re great writers with nothing more to learn is the day we should have our pens taken away and our library cards revoked.
The goal is to write words we’re not very proud of, and then (later) make them better so that if they came up to us in public we wouldn’t disavow our acquaintance. We might still grit our teeth as we introduce them to other people (why did they have to wear those oil-grimed overalls on this day of all days?) but we’re secretly a little proud that they’re ours (those overalls do show off their curves well!).
I’ll write more when I know HOW to do it.
I get it. How do you write a novel? A memoir? How do you even start?
There’s no one right way, which is mightily heartening and at the same time wildly frustrating. The whole reason I started my podcast, Ink in Your Veins, eight years ago, was to learn how working writers made their writing easier. Of course, I knew there wasn’t a silver bullet. But even now, almost 500 episodes later, I haven’t stopped looking for one.
Truly, the search for it is the fun part. If someone says they’re getting more writing done by walking for 3 hours a day and writing at every bench they passes, I will try it. (Thanks, AK! You’ve got to come on the show and talk about this!)
Then, if it doesn’t work, I cheerfully forget I ever heard the tip and go back to writing from my beloved writing recliner. (True story, I wasn’t in my recliner when I wrote that sentence, but now I am. Whew, close call! Some of my own silver bullets include: good noise-canceling headphones, lofi beats, wrist and neck and shoulder support, and warm toes.)
No, I mean I’ll write when I stop letting myself down with the words that land on the page.
Ah, the greatest myth of all.
Here’s what most of us do:
We go bravely to the page.
We feel. We feel so greatly.
We open the vein and bleed the gorgeous words onto the page, and damn it all, three seconds later, all passion and beauty drain away, leaving only husks of ideas that are a pale fraction of what we meant to say.
We walk away, brokenhearted but trying to hide it.
Often, we don’t go back for days, or months, or years.
Sound familiar?
We’ve all been there. Every single book you’ve ever loved was written by someone who felt exactly like you do, often. (Huh. You’re both writers, obviously.)
❤️ The truth that deflates this myth is this:
It’s okay to write words that let you down.
Really, it’s mandatory to write words that let you down.
Confession: I used to think I could skip this part if I tried hard enough. I was wrong. Truly, no one is exempt from this.
Here’s the best part:
Knowing this means that you can’t let yourself down.
Did you just write some words that feel like they dribbled out of the bottom of the recycling bin, all stinky and gooey?
GREAT JOB! Gold star! ⭐️ You get to be proud of yourself for doing Real Writer Work.
Once this knowledge is deeply and truly internalized, writing becomes so much easier and so much more joyful. Just do some crappy work. Fix it later as best you can without over-stressing about it (easier said than done, I know). Then do some more writing.
TL;DR:
You have the time.
You already know enough.
There’s no right way.
Allow your words to disappoint you (that’s how we collect words to polish and be proud of later).
love and new words,
Rachael
PS - LAST CALL! 90 Day Classes start next week! Does your writing desperately need some CPR? There is ONE slot left in Revision and there are TWO left in 90 Days to Done, and I’d love to have you, no matter where you are in your journey.
PPS - I was working 911 at Alameda County Fire Department the day the Mythbusters (gif above) accidentally fired a cannonball through a random person’s house, across the street, off a roof, and finally into a car (they never aired it, and the person who screwed up got fired). That was a very confusing 30 minutes as we sorted that out!
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You’re a real writer. Period. ❤️