Drink
All the great writers drank like fish: Ernest Hemmingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ethan Hawke, etc. There's no point trying to write a single word sober, you'll only disappoint yourself and your family. Start the workday with a six-pack, and then work your way up to a bottle of Johnny Walker Black; that's when the magic happens.
Don't bother with rewrites
You've written it; it's there on the page, see? Job done. Now why in the name of heck would you do it again? To make it better? Don't be stupid. Ever heard of a little thing called, 'First thought, best thought'?
(Click here if you want to read more)
I found the tips refreshingly sarcastic and wonderfully entertaining. Then I stared at my computer screen and realised my writing has reached a horrible stagnant stage...and I cannot see beyond the murkiness. Fact is, I am not writing the way I should, the way I want to. This blog has suffered, and there are even blank pages in my diary, where the past year should have been documented...
There was a time when words flowed out of me, when I did not struggle with every paraphrase and paragraph. That was when I did not second guess myself, and stare at blank word documents on my computer. I almost feel crippled by fear at the thought of jotting something down now.
Life seems to have gotten in the way - too many things to juggle and I always have these points in the future (after the wedding, after I move house, after I settle in, when I am not so tired) that I think I can write again. My job has also put me in a formulaic mode of writing - making me, God forbid! - such a lazy writer.
These are precisely my mistakes, aren't they? I have excuses instead of forging on. I have more reasons defending myself, than to persevere and prosper despite circumstances. Because, as Jason mentions in his first line, "Good writers write. They don't always write well, but they must write!" I suppose this is a good a start as any...
