On Becoming a Better Writer

Marking the switch from being someone who consumes to someone who creates is (not surprisingly) difficult. The amount of energy and focus required to do something like reading versus writing your own words is at least 10 times as great, and often demands even more than that.

If only writing a book came as easily as reading one, as enjoyably as devouring a story through a nonstop reading session. If I could write the way I read, I would consider myself incredibly lucky.

Are there writers for whom the words just pour out, the same way they would as if they were reading them for the first time? I have made a somewhat informal study of the writing habits of different writers and I think for most of them, the process is painfully akin to pulling teeth. I know it is for me.

I heard once that there are two kinds of writers. Writers who rewrite, and writers who struggle. Some just work on getting something, anything on the page. They don't worry about if it is good, they just need the process to start so that they can come back later and rewrite it into something.

The other kind of writer really struggles through their first draft, choosing their words and storylines carefully. It might take them longer to finish their book, but by the time the first draft is done, there will be very little editing needed.

I fear I am in the first category, but without the necessary skills to rewrite. If I could choose, I would prefer a happy medium of the two. I would like to choose my words and storylines with more thought, but I also need to develop the skills of editing.

I think one reason I tend to NOT rewrite is a lack of confidence in what I have written. Who wants to look back at their efforts and find them sadly lacking? As Ira Glass says in his famous quote, “your taste is why your work disappoints you.” After the thousands of books I’ve read so far, I KNOW good writing when I see it. And I’m pretty sure mine falls short. Or as Ira puts it, “We know our work doesn’t have this special thing that we want it to have.” The key has to be then to persevere, to push past the point of discomfort in your writing (or anything you are working on) to the point where it stops sucking. And maybe is getting kind of good.

To all my fellow creatives out there, I feel your pain. Let’s keep going though. Let’s get less shitty together. And maybe, one day, great.

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