Stamped by Nyx

Dear Inkwalkers,

“Just write,” is easier said than done, is it not?

There are many things that are hard for writers to do: Finishing the first draft, finding ways to overcome writer’s block, fighting burnout, etc… I would say that the hardest thing to do is trying to figure out what to say or write.

From what I have seen from myself and other writers, there is a certain perfectionism to the craft that is hard to let go. Staring at a blank (or mostly blank) screen or paper is typical as we are practically mentally frozen. Our brains are stuck somewhere between acting like an old fax machine and acting like a highly-caffeinated gerbil farm! The critiquing and editing starts way before the first rough draft is even half way done which leads to it never being done. All of that plus other things can quickly lead to burnout, writer’s block, or even putting down the pen forever.

Many people say writing is easy, not knowing what really goes into it other than reading a book and doing a report on it. Those who truly write know that it is a battle of wits against yourself.

“How should I continue this scene? I could do this or I could do that.”

“If I write this, this will happen, but so will this…”

“Where do I start?”

“Where should I end this? Should I end it here?”

Those are all questions I have asked myself over the years. Still, even to this day as I am writing this post, I struggle. Writing is not easy. As a writer we are creating and expanding a universe or two! We are finding answers to questions that have both been constantly asked and never been asked before. We sometimes become experts on some of the most random things such as poisons, the ever-expanding universe, sword fighting, multi-dimensional portals, and the history of the Greco-Buddhists in Bactria! The research that goes into writing anything is mind boggling.

I suppose by now you are wondering what my point or solution to all of this is. It is quite simple as you have already read what it is!

Just write.

Forget about all of your self-appointed standards. Forget about being perfect. Forget about word counts. Forget about all of it! In the grand scheme of things, writing is all about having fun and exploring the world in and around ourselves.

Stare at a blank wall and think about all of the things you like and hate about it and just write, even if all it says is, “I am staring at a blank wall, trying to figure out what to write. This is stupid because what am I going to write about a wall?” Boom! You may not know what to write, but you just wrote something about it already.

Think about your favorite drink and just write about how much you like it, even of you just write, “Tea really is just hot leaf soup, but I like it. I don’t know why others don’t.” And that is how you lead into at least a paragraph or two of your favorite tea.

Find a random scrap of paper and just write the first thing that pops into your head. It could be a random list of all the countries that you can think of in that moment, it could be song lyrics that have been bouncing around for weeks, it could even be a little note to yourself.

If you are stuck on a scene in your draft, just write a completely unrelated scene. It could be something that you can use in another manuscript or it could be something that you store away in the deepest parts of your mind because you threw the physical proof away.

I know I make grammar mistakes, I know that my writing can be all over the place, and I know that if I focus too much on being perfect I would never write. Practice does not equal perfect. Practice equals progress. And the only way to get better (not perfect because I have come to learn that it is only an idealized mindset) is by practicing your writing and not caring about whether it is perfect or not.

So, as much as even I hate to hear it… Just write.