KristyWes

Write Like It's My Job

“What is written without effort is in general read without pleasure.” -Samuel Johnson, writer

Writing is hard. I forget this sometimes, figuring that if I were truly gifted or talented then writing would come easily, words should form seamlessly on the page, the whole process as easy and natural as walking. When in reality, I often sit down to write and find my mind choking on the ideas I want to express, so that the end result is a few mangled half-sentences which I pronounce “stupid” and….(not sure how to finish this sentence).

In these situations, I have to rely on the reassurance from published authors who swear (in their own books on the writing process) that it doesn’t always come easily for them either. Anne Lamott penned what is perhaps my favorite book about writing, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life. In it, she devotes a whole chapter to the immensely helpful concept of “Shitty First Drafts.” Don’t think that all authors get it right on the first try, Lamott exhorts. We all have to start with a “shitty first draft” in order to just get it down on paper. Leave prettiness, refinery and perfection to be sought later on in the revision stage.

Stephen King’s On Writing is another good read. (I like to pretend that reading about writing is an acceptable procrastination for actually doing some writing.) King recounts an episode, early in his career, where he learned to get over the need for perfection and just write. Returning home one evening, King refused to let himself get distracted by the pile of dirty dishes and instead sat down at the typewriter (remember those?) and just wrote. When he had completed his allotted time of writing, he promptly trashed those typewritten pages. They were terrible. Drivel. But he didn’t let the quality of the prose bother him, because he had succeeded in doing his job. He sat down and wrote.

I try to keep that mindset: my job is not to turn out to perfection, but to just sit down and write. To that end, my friend Kelly and I have started to set aside the occasional evening to meet up at DTUT, collapse into their ugly-yet-comfortable orange arm chairs and write. The other night I started a story that was pretty miserable, a “shitty first draft” if ever there was one. But still I can congratulate myself (and I think Anne and Stephen would as well) on the simple act of showing up and doing my job.