Writing is putting junk on a page, immediate thoughts, cliches, misspelled words, statements like, “I don’t remember that part” and unorganized scenes that don’t go together. That is why it takes grit to do all of this and not feel down about yourself! What is grit? It is courage!
Try to write one page in two minutes without stopping to think. If you can’t think, just write “I can’t think”. Writing is thinking on a page even when you can’t think!
You must accumulate loads and loads of words, pages and pages. But why? Because you will have more to work with.
Once you have loads of words you will be able to reread, cross out what doesn’t matter, rearrange and add better words, sentences and punctuation. This is called revising.
Most of writing is getting over the fear of writing and just doing it for pages and pages, then revising. Here are some tips for writing lots and lots of drafts:
- Write fast
- Write messy
- Try to ignore the negative thoughts that arise
- Time yourself