About Writing

You took too many English classes. Someone has told you that it’s more important to say it right than to say it at all.
Well, it is important to write correctly. It makes your communication clearer, and your reputation brighter. But it’s usually better to say what you mean poorly than to say nothing.
Why? Because once you write it, you can edit it. Or you can ask someone else to.
Ernest Hemingway said, “The first draft of anything is garbage.” Well, garbage wasn’t the word he actually used, but you get the idea. If Hemingway, one of the most influential prose writers in the English language, thought that his first drafts were garbage, you should feel just fine if that’s what your first draft looks like. Garbage is honorable. It’s hard to improve on perfection, but it’s really easy to improve on garbage. Reading it again will give you all sorts of ideas for improvement.

 Writing is a form of communication, but for many amateur writers, its most important purpose is for communicating with themselves. That sounds strange, but seeing your own words on paper helps you understand who you are and what you’re thinking, even in the moment as you’re writing them down. Don’t underestimate the value of writing something that nobody else may ever see.
Ther’s nothing wrong with being your own sole audience. Emily Dickinson and Franz Kafka both wanted their works burned after their death. Writing can be therapeutic. Even if you’re a serious writer, you may not want a lot of people to see your early work. Though if you want to learn, show it to someone. That’s the only way you can know for sure how it’s coming across, or if it’s coming across at all.

1. Free Association

This is probably the most popular writing exercise to get the juices flowing. Pull up a new Word document, take a deep breath and just write whatever comes to mind. Dig as deep as you can into your subconscious and don’t worry about what comes out. Sometimes there’s a mental blockage with something that’s been bothering you, so it helps to write it down and get it out of your system.

2. Think Outside the Box

Think of something you’re passionate about, like a hobby or a love interest, and write everything you know about it. Sometimes writing slumps happen and it helps to write about something you love. Even if you just write a paragraph, it’s better to write something that’s not your current project. This will rejuvenate you to re-start on your current project.