Care Less, Write More!

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.

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!