My plant is dying

dodgersmom
Tue, 05 Nov 2013 05:50:46 +0000

(1) Stop thinking.

(2) Start writing.

I’d suggest 5-minute writing exercises on utterly mundane topics - 5 minutes on where you sat for lunch (yes, where you sat - not what you ate!), 5 minutes on your most boring class today, 5 minutes on the most irritating thing anyone in your family said to you this week. Do several of these every evening (but never the same one twice) - since they’re only 5 minutes each, it won’t take long!

Some of what you write will be garbage, but, when you look at them later, you may find a word, or a sentence, or an entire idea that’s worth exploring.

By the way, editing skill is not the same as writing skill. Editors aim for perfection. If a writer tries to do that . . . well, it doesn’t work. You have to be willing to write whatever you think of, without worrying about how bad it is. Then you go back, find the little bits that are worth saving, throw the rest out, and do it again. And again. And again. And the perfectionist side of your brain shouldn’t even be allowed in the same room with you until you’re pretty much done - then you can edit. But not before. Try writing late at night, when you’re too tired to be a perfectionist.