Where is it?! Where is YOUR bad writing?
This is my bad writing. Maybe on any given day, any given post, you don’t think it is bad or maybe I don’t. But how good it is, doesn’t matter. The words matter. The fact that these words found a post and that post found a way to my website and eventually to you. That matters.
It is a muscle; I think. Creativity, that is. You have to work out that muscle. And it is hard and it sucks and sometimes I don’t want to do it. Sometimes you don’t want to do it either. BUT, if you enjoy writing, like I do. Then you need to write.
Writers write.
Now, it doesn’t have to be good. It won’t be. At least not all the time. But, again, that is besides the point. If and when you decide to write. And it is absolutely a decision… then the only logical think to do from there is to write.
It doesn’t matter how you feel. What does feeling have to do with it? It doesn’t matter if you don’t think it is good. It doesn’t matter if you never post it or share it. What matters is that you decided. And you only need to make that decision once.
Decide. Once. Then just do the thing you decided.
I think that often times the problem is that our writing doesn’t read the way that the latest book we finished did. Our words don’t quite fit together right. It is choppy. And sometimes you start sentences with and or maybe you have so many ideas that you sentences just go and on and on forever and you have an entire paragraph that is one giant run-on sentence.
Yup. Yup. Yup.
I remember, I used to write when I had a BIG idea. It was my birthday and I wanted to reflect. It was Thanksgiving and I wanted to take a break from electronics and focus on being present. It was a key point in my career. Those are all wonderful motivating topics. The problem is that has lead me to a dozen posts, maybe over the last 5 years of ‘writing’… is that really writing. Or is that just doing enough that I could tell people I have a website and blog… a website and blog with 10 posts on it.
It is going to be really hard to get good at writing if I only write on holidays and my birthday. Maybe that isn’t a good plan. My new plan is to post something everyday on this site. I am certain of one thing only… the posts will not be that great. I am ok with that. That isn’t the point. The point is to work on craft.
The goal is the process.
Aiden and I were listening to a podcast on the way to wrestling practice this morning. It was with Tim Ferriss and Seth Godin. Tim was telling Seth how he hasn’t been writing much because he doesn’t feel like he is producing anything good.
Show me your bad writing
– says Seth
The point that Seth was making in order to even produce something bad you still need to go through the act. Not doing it because you don’t think the output is that great will never lead to an improved product. Just do the work and stop concentrating so much on if it is good enough or not. Just the consistent act of doing the work will inevitably improve the results. I love Seth.
Aiden had his preseason tournament yesterday. The one I wrote about yesterday. He did really well. I am really proud of him.
He went 2-2 and got 3rd place. What a great example of hard work paying off. He has only been wrestling for a year and half now. He is wrestling kids that have been wrestling since they were 5. Some of these kids are like mini-MMA fighters (and not that mini, lol).
He is learning how to work hard for something. He is learning how to win. He is learning how to lose. He is learning how to be a teammate. He is learning how to suffer for something he cares deeply about.
I am learning how to be a supportive parent.
He came in third place yesterday and today he is back at it training at a special 3-hour seminar. What a great metaphor for life. Even if you have some success you don’t stop working. You never arrive. It is a process and you have to love the process.
You. Never. Arrive.
How about this election though? Joe Biden for president and for some people I think the more powerful news is that Trump will be out. What a strange time to be alive. I feel like we are living history. I feel like I should really think about this election and maybe gather my thoughts and put them into a post on here.
Well if I am going to do that, hopefully that writing is good. Well, lucky for me I have been doing all this bad writing. It should be out of my system.
Writers write. Singers sing. Makers make.
Show me your bad writing.
-Nate
