So-So Results

If we’re in the habit of writing everyday, some days will yield much poorer results than others. Does this mean we shouldn’t do it? No, this means no such thing. It means that we take the good with the bad and deal with it. Even our worst writing days can provide us with marvelous gems that are well worth the effort.

Just to fortify our mission to write everyday, keep a pile of your bad work. Highlight the gems hidden within. On a day that we can’t find the inspiration to write something new, pick up something from the questionable pile and redo it. Choices would range from re-writing the piece to doing some heavy editing. We might just want to take the general idea and start with a clean slate. See if we can rewrite it better than we did the first time.

If we remain true to writers, we are also reading as much of other peoples’ work that we can. While you read, make a note of anything you see that really “works.” I certainly don’t mean to copy passages, but make a note of general ideas that made the article. We never, ever want to copy someone else’s words. Maybe it was a certain type of description that just made everything clear.

All of this, of course, assumes a self-imposed deadline for writing. Self-imposed deadlines allow us the luxury of re-do. If we have a deadline from an editor, we may have to revisit the piece later the same day. If the piece is as bad as you think, walk away from it and do something else for a while. Then, pick the work up with a fresh eye. It may be that there were four really good sentences on the entire page. Maybe we can start with these four sentences and re-write the rest.

Find a method that works for you. Experiment with different ways to improve your work. We want to be flexible enough that we don’t want to box ourselves in. Yet we want to have enough discipline that we can meet our deadlines and turn our quality work in the process. We just need to remember that everyday will not result in a masterpiece even if that’s what we would like.