It's time for me to start writing...
Somewhere back in time, pretty much all of our ancestors worked with their hands: to grow food, raise animals, or make things. But not our generation. I’m pretty useless at making anything with my hands, apart from what I’m told is a pretty mean spaghetti carbonara. Luckily my work is in the realm of ideas. I read. I think. And I converse with others. And through that process I develop and refine ideas that hopefully add some value to the world.
For my ideas to have a positive impact, they need to be communicated. Personally I find it quite easy to communicate my ideas in a conversation, but super tough to put them into writing. And writing is important, even in this era of memes and Twitter. Writing down one’s ideas not only makes them available to a much broader audience, it’s also the best way to clarify and improve them, and to get feedback from others on them. My challenge putting my ideas down ‘on paper’ has been a huge source of frustration for me over the years. Every time I even think about sitting down to write, I have this strange, vague feeling that the process is going to be so uncomfortable that it’s best avoided altogether.
So today I’m making a commitment – publicly on LinkedIn – to write at least three times a week. This post is only 250 words or so. How hard can it be to write 250 words a few times a week? The answer historically has been infinitely hard – meaning that I just didn’t do it.
I’m hoping that, with your help, I can change that. I’m sure many others have experienced this, so I’m wondering if anyone out there has any advice or suggestions. What has worked for you to overcome your case of writer’s block?
Research, Education and Investment
3 年Interesting question. And you answered it. That’s exactly the advice of my most effective writing coach. Or here’s a radical idea: https://youtu.be/rsCul1sp4hQ... just neeeds a banana smoothie
Professional alchemist. Uses education to fight entropy.
3 年Keep a physical notebook, write fragments. Fragments have lower attached expectation, so you will feel freer to express yourself: one-liners, odd thoughts, terrible rhymes, anything that you catch in words. Blogs and twitter work too, but those expose you sometimes to premature scrutiny and your fragments may be stillborn. Those fragments may be the seeds for whole chapters, even if the gestation period is long and the full expression of your thoughts is not quite there yet.