This essay was written for the Writing Contest: You Are Enough, hosted by Positive Writer. The goal of the contest is to help writers face their challenges and ignite their passion for writing.
When I am writing a story or a poem or a song or an essay or any kind of written work that I want to be the best of which I am capable, I have found my success in achieving this goal corresponds directly to how little of a shit I give about that goal.
When I am writing a story or a poem or a song or an essay or any kind of written work that I want to be the best of which I am capable, I have found my success in achieving this goal corresponds directly to how little of a shit I give about that goal.
In short: the less I
care, the better I write.
Counterintuitive? Maybe so. But true.
Our lofty expectations thwart us at every turn of
phrase.
When we care too much and agonize over every word and every
punctuation mark, we are doomed to failure.
Freedom enables human beings to lead happy and productive lives and this
applies to all forms of human endeavor, writing among them. By that, I mean freedom from
self-consciousness, freedom from self-doubt, freedom from anxiety about the
rules of grammar, freedom from concern over the expectations of others … you
get the picture.
The feeling of complete freedom will enable you to write as you’ve
never written before. Writers cannot afford
to care about what others may think—or even about what they themselves
think. Getting words on the page is all
that matters and anything that prevents or slows that from happening is bad. When your inner critic begins inhibiting your
writing (as it will), remind yourself that everything is possible in the
revision process and everything is permissible in the first draft.
Not only is everything permissible in the first draft, but
everything is welcome and encouraged.
There is no word limit, there are no grammatical standards, no standards
of decency or decorum. You need not and
should not worry about anything or anybody when writing that first draft, not
even its quality— especially its quality!
You will probably not be the next Shakespeare. But you can express truths about your life
and the world you live in as nobody else can—believe this before you sit down
to write a word. And when you’re
writing, practice not giving a shit about your grammar, about your wisdom, or about
your intended audience. Just write your
truths as best you can, as though nobody else is ever going to read them.
Not giving a shit will free you to write as you never
dreamed possible. So stop caring and start writing!
