I led a two-hour writing workshop this past weekend. The attendees ranged from a 9-year-old who says, “I LOVE to write,” to retired adults who are involved in community projects who hate to write. We performed two writing exercises. Although the writing is useful, it's the debrief of each writing activity that helps each writer grow. The first exercise was to write for three minutes to introduce yourself and why you wanted to attend the workshop. Some people had trouble writing anything — even for only three minutes. When it came time to debrief, people first read their intros (where that fit for them), we offered gentle commentary, and if people dicussed a problem, I referred them to the handout, so they would have a printed reminder of some suggestions.
The most fascinating debrief came from the participant who didn't write very much. She'd written a few phrases, and proceeded to speak her intro. Now, as a professional speaker, I certainly appreciate speaking. But she was stuck. I interrupted her several times and finally was able to break into her (speaking) fugue. She has “almost” finished a book. She thinks she needs another chapter, but she was stuck. She couldn't figure out how to finish the book. She told us why: There is no finishing this story. One of the other participants caught that and gently said, “That's the ending.” She was unable to process those words into meaning. So I asked her to repeat what she'd just said about no ending, and I said, “Write that down.” Of course, she's an extrovert (like me), so she had no idea what she'd just said. Luckily, of the other 12 or so people in the room, other people did remember. I insisted she write down the phrase and sit with it for a while to see if that's what she needed to end the book. She might need a paragraph or two, but no more.
If you are the kind of person who needs to speak in order to think, you're an extrovert. Take care with your speaking, because as soon as you've spoken the thought, it's out. You no longer need to write it down. I use a number of aids, including a voice recorder, to avoid losing thoughts I need to write down.
Those of you who are innate writers: make sure you're not writing over your gems. If you write everything, it's hard for other people to see the gems you've written. Edit yourselves carefully. If you love some words, take them out and replace them with something else. If you're like me, and want credit for everything you write, save those words in another file and take credit.
In the second exercise, each of us wrote down three of our favorite words on index cards, one to a card. I collected the index cards, shuffled them, and then everyone took three cards from the pile. Each of us had 5 minutes to write something using those cards. Some people created compelling short stories. Others created marketing literature. I got started on an article that's been eluding me for months. One person wrote “garbage” (his words, not mine). Even when this activity doesn't succeed by starting you on your way, you write something. And if the something isn't so hot, you throw it out, because you've only spent 5 or 10 minutes on it. BTW, I don't think he wrote garbage at all. I think he wrote a yucky first draft — I heard energy and the germ of an idea.
I'm always amazed that timed writing can be so successful. To me, it's successful because you know you don't have to stare at a blank page very long. Joel Spolsky in Joel on Software and on Diverse and Occasionally Related Matters… says on page 51 (about why people don't write specs) “…so many people don't like to write. Staring at a blank screen is horribly frustrating. … Writing is muscle. The more you write, the more you'll be able to write.” Knowing I can write for a short time frees me from having to write the whole darn thing — and being scared that I won't be able to do so. Timed writing is like a Hudson's Bay Start.
We discussed how adverbs weaken verbs (from Stephen King's On Writing), Anne Lamott's idea (from Bird by Bird) of the (expletive deleted) first draft, and a bunch of other ideas from Naomi Karten‘s and my writer's workshop at AYE the past few years. And, I pointed people to Brian's blog entry about editing.
We discussed one of the ideas in Brian's entry, that of taping the piece to the wall and reading it through binoculars. I sometimes print my writing and look to see what it looks like. I look for shorter-than-normal paragraphs and longer-than-normal paragraphs. I like to keep a particular tempo in the piece — unless I want to shake people up with something out-of-tempo.
If you'd like to write — or write better, start. You can start short, with 5 or 10 minute timed writing. (Write for 5 or 10 minutes. Do not stop. Keep writing. If you get stuck, write blah, blah, blah, but keep writing.) Find someone who'll review it. Or put it aside and read it later. I find I need at least 24 hours before I can read with a critical eye and a critical ear.
Writing is not an innate skill — even for you introverts. The more I practice, the better I write. You too.