Ok, I’m using this space to practice, right? To practice how I want words to flow on a page before feeling like they are worthy of being published. With a blog, you’re not supposed to overthink it or over-edit it. You’re supposed to divulge some honest take about something you’re working on or going through, and then let it go.
But then I go back and read an entry the next day and I’m like, for cripes’ sake, where didgyou learn to write?
Sometimes it’s the presence of too much passive voice, sometimes it’s the lack of content or character, and sometimes it’s because I used one too many adverbs — total flow killers. Totally. As Stephen King said, “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.”
Sometimes I repeat a word, like “the,” twice in a row, and sometimes I forget a word altogether. This can happen when thoughts fly faster than fingers and you’ve already moved on to the next sentence before finishing the one you’re typing. My biggest pet peeve, though, is when the words sound choppy and bland when I read them out loud. Why didn’t I read this out loud to myself before posting?
The Effect
Rather than letting it go, I of course start to edit. Even though it’s only a blog, it’s a representation of the kind of work you’re putting out there in printed formats, so I can’t help myself. I try to clean it up a little. To a point.
Blogging isn’t supposed to be perfect, and the more time I spend here, the less I do on the current book I’m working on. I’m not even entirely sure I’ll publish it, but I need to write it for my own sake, if no one else’s, and every second I spend writing here is a second I take away from exploring that work.
But…
But I also need to write about different things to keep things from getting stagnant. Pulling myself away from the book allows me to bounce ideas off… myself. Putting thoughts down here helps me consider where I’m going with all the pieces I’m working on, in writing, health, and life. Ultimately, jumping away from the book and writing here grants me some clarity to bring back to the book. It’s not the same as getting an outside perspective but works a little like that. Ah, this is such a catch-22!
So, I blog. I write. I’ll probably come back to this post in a day or two to clean up a missing word or fix the flow. But that’s part of the writing journey: a willingness to keep making mistakes and be open about the fact that you’re making them. That’s my journey with it, at least. And hopefully, the mistakes lead to a book more clearly stated than what should be a thirty-minute blog entry. I have spent way, way longer than that on some entries. Like, way too long. Gotta get better at that. Ok, got that off my chest. Now I can go back to working on the book.
Keep Reading
If you enjoy reading about the writing process and want more honest takes on how it all goes (and how it sometimes doesn’t), you can find more posts like this here on wanderingmatt8.com.