Yzabel / July 11, 2005

Even though this may seem an evidence to some, writing more and more lately has allowed me to finally understand something about my own ways of writing — something that may be key to many blocks I’ve had in the past. Is this something common to other writers, or am I one among few who seemingly understand such evidences very late? I have no idea. I just know that being aware of this has helped me to take gigantic steps in how I had been writing.

There’s a mistake, in my opinion, that should absolutely be avoided when putting down what I could call the “alpha version” of a text, whatever its length: the mistake of absolutely wanting to make it perfect from the start. It only leads to slowing down, to stalling, to starting proof-reading when the article or chapter isn’t even finished yet, and to ending up devoid of all inspiration and ideas, when a few hours ago they had been pressing in one’s mind. There is something very intimidating and very strong in this whole process of proof-reading, really, that will contribute to paralyzing the writer, upon realizing that she didn’t choose her words well enough. This is pretty bad. I wonder if there’s anything worse, in creative writing, than stifling one’s motivation with fears of not being “the best” from second one?…

So, my theory goes as follows: write. Simply write. Write until your fingers go numb on the keyboard or on the pen, write whatever goes through your head as long as the inspiration strikes. Do not bother about grammar rules, about spelling, about this-or-that sentence looking a little odd. Write, and only when it’s done, worry about proof-reading. You will find mistakes, you will find many things that can be improved, and it will sure take some time to fix it all and polish the text until it is finally right; however, at least it will be written, and not frozen into an attempt of correcting it halfway, which tends to kill imagination as well as your basic train of thought.Once again, it is only a theory, and whether it works or not very likely depends a lot on the people. I think I simply found back something that I should never have forgotten at first – that when taking pleasure in writing, it’s important to not stiffle one’s drive early with petty considerations such as proof-reading when the basic idea isn’t even properly laid down yet.In the end, practicing anyway makes us better at finding the right words on the first attempt…