How I Write (Blog)

[Savage]

Use this thread to discuss the following entry from Steve Pavlina's blog:

How I Write

[gingerbaker]

In keeping with my past-3-blog-posts record, I'll be the first to respond again.

Thanks for the insight into your writing process! I feel you on the inspiration - if I start writing something and for some reason can't finish it, chances are excellent, even if I loved the idea, I will not end up finishing it. I just can't seem to pick up the flow again. :/

One thing I think I SHOULD start doing is having loads more IM convos - I could EASILY turn (my portion of) those into blog posts! I think this is because when someone asks me a question outright it's easy for me to explain my answer - and usually what one person asks me, several do over time! (Esp. questions relating to kink, poly, breastfeeding and childbirth...not related, mind!)

[dan1529]

You are a machine.

I couldn't agree more with how assinine the writing process that's taught in schools is (I learned the same process as you did, and it totally conflicted with my right-brained nature). It's ass-backwards and it literally murders inspiration.

That being said, I'm surprised you don't sleep on your text for a day or two -- uh, I don't mean this literally obviously -- and then come back to it after a rest. I always find I become typo-blind and phrasing-deaf when I try to edit a post on the same day I write it. And the next day I can usually come up with several more elegant or compelling ways to articulate certain concepts or ideas. You must compose in pretty "clean" text when you write.

_____________________________
Visit me at Casual Kitchen!
Cook More. Think More. Spend Less.

[James81]

Yeah, that's not really an odd style. In fact, I think it's kinda the way most people write, especially for blogs.

Nobody writes like they teach you to write in school.

I did appreciate the section about the Title though. That came at the right time for me.

[MyronM]

"Go to my computer, open the editor in WordPress, type a working title for the piece, and immediately begin writing..."

Have you ever lost an article because the blog text editor crashed? It seems like I hear about that a lot.

-M

[James81]

Originally Posted by MyronM

"Go to my computer, open the editor in WordPress, type a working title for the piece, and immediately begin writing..."

Have you ever lost an article because the blog text editor crashed? It seems like I hear about that a lot.

-M

I've had that happen to me before. It only has to happen about once or twice before you learn to click "save" frequently. Plus, wordpress autosaves rather frequently itself (anytime you take a pause, it autosaves).

[MyronM]

"I always fix typos when people point them out, but I don’t go out of my way to solicit typo reports."

Well then, here's one for you (From the "Ideas" section):

Occasionally some weaks idea pop up...

---

A good article at the right time, since I'm going to have to do some writing pretty soon.



-M

[Savage]

Originally Posted by MyronM

[I]Have you ever lost an article because the blog text editor crashed? It seems like I hear about that a lot.

-M

Yes, a couple times. One time my laptop battery died suddenly. Another time it was a sudden browser crash. WordPress automatically saves frequent back-ups for an article in progress now, so now it's less of a problem than it once was.

When I lost whole articles due to a crash, I never went back and rewrote them. I swore a bunch, let it go, and moved on to the next article.

It sure beats what Orison Sweet Marden had to deal with when writing Pushing to the Front in the late 1800s. His 800-page completed manuscript, which took him a year to write, burned up completely in a fire. He had to spend another year rewriting the whole thing from scratch. Then it took years to get it published. It went on to become one of the most popular books in its day and inspired many U.S. leaders.

[supertom]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

Yes, a couple times. One time my laptop battery died suddenly. Another time it was a sudden browser crash. WordPress automatically saves frequent back-ups for an article in progress now, so now it's less of a problem than it once was.

When I lost whole articles due to a crash, I never went back and rewrote them. I swore a bunch, let it go, and moved on to the next article.

It sure beats what Orison Sweet Marden had to deal with when writing Pushing to the Front in the late 1800s. His 800-page completed manuscript, which took him a year to write, burned up completely in a fire. He had to spend another year rewriting the whole thing from scratch. Then it took years to get it published. It went on to become one of the most popular books in its day and inspired many U.S. leaders.

I think Isaac Newton had his notes burned when his dog knocked over a lamp

[Armen]

Hi Steve.

"At one point I had a list of about 200 new article ideas. When I scanned it for something to write about, I was usually bored by everything on it."

I currently have such a list. Most of the items on it are not interesting to me at this time either. I had this sense that the interest in them dies out quite quickly, and your thoughts match this. Part of me wants to scrap the whole list and my half-done drafts, and part of me wants to pick out the good ones and use them as soon as possible. It's a tough call. What would you do?

[Snowfox]

I think this was a great article, Steve. If a person is writing creatively (and I categorize blogging as such) rather than for an academic audience (which is the kind of writing I do most of the time), your methods would work quite well. When I read your article my immediate thought was, this is excellent but it does not help me much in my writing, since scientific articles are processed and constructed much differently, and can take a very long time to write. However, I will reread your post to see what I can glean from it and possibly apply to the scientific method. I think your approach could possibly work well when writing a book chapter or review article, for example.

[Klamachpin]

It's worth noting that the school way of writing teaches you how to write. Not how to write persuasively, effectively, inspirationally, or in a conversational tone, but simply how to write. Grammar, transitions, and identifying key topics are all things needed in the structure of a written communication, but once truly learned, these things don't need to be separated from the process of writing itself.

I would anticipate that Steve's speed in transferring inspiration to written word is largely due to his education, being erudite, practice in writing, and knowledge of his own skill level. The basics that we're all taught in the beginning have been tried, failed, tweaked, and ingrained to match Steve's personal writing style. As a result of his prior experiences, he is now able to write efficiently according to his style.

Each and every person has strengths and weaknesses in their skill of writing. Being aware of those strengths and weaknesses, as school teaches us to be, allows us to ingrain the strengths such that no extra time must be spent on them and tweak the weaknesses to a point of comfortability/efficiency.

I don't believe it is wise to completely toss out the ideas from how schools teach us to write in favor of the faster process someone else (in this case Steve) may promote. You may just have not met the same prerequisites in terms of experience that are needed to acquire the new style. But if you do set it as a goal, such skill level has been shown to be possible.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Armen

Hi Steve.

"At one point I had a list of about 200 new article ideas. When I scanned it for something to write about, I was usually bored by everything on it."

I currently have such a list. Most of the items on it are not interesting to me at this time either. I had this sense that the interest in them dies out quite quickly, and your thoughts match this. Part of me wants to scrap the whole list and my half-done drafts, and part of me wants to pick out the good ones and use them as soon as possible. It's a tough call. What would you do?

Nuke it all. You'll feel lighter afterwards (relieved to to be free of it). And you'll be more receptive to what's arising now.

If I start an article, get interrupted partway through, and can't get back to it within about 3-4 days to finish it, I delete the draft, even if it's thousands of words. It's dead.

I used to try to salvage them, but that actually takes longer than writing a fresh article from scratch. It never feels right either.

[Andreas]

Thanks for clearly explaining how you do what you do, Steve. It makes complete sense, and the article flowed especially well when I had OS X's Alex voice read off the whole thing to me. (Something I've been doing more and more of lately. I highly recommend it.)

I'm curious, have you ever written any fiction?

As I was reading the last part, I kept thinking about a piece of fiction I've been meaning to write, and hearing the last few paragraphs of this article inspired me and made me realize that if I thought about how I wrote a bit differently, I could churn out at least 6,000 words a day.

*hugs*

[Armen]

Steve,

I went ahead and got rid of all my post ideas and unfinished drafts, and you were right. It is now easy to see that that was the right decision.

Thanks.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Andreas

I'm curious, have you ever written any fiction?

No, but thanks for the synchronicity.

[Savage]

Originally Posted by Armen

Steve,

I went ahead and got rid of all my post ideas and unfinished drafts, and you were right. It is now easy to see that that was the right decision.

Thanks.

It's like clearing dead produce out of your fridge, thereby freeing up space for fresh stuff. It's harder to be creative when part of you is thinking about the posts you should go back and finish.

[Andreas]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

No, but thanks for the synchronicity.

Anytime, Steve

Just think, the principles of Truth, Love, and Power expressed in a short story, or any length for that matter...

[Cochonette]

Awesome. This is helpful. I have been curious about your writing process ever since I read your book.

[cacheborn]

Cool. Just yesterday I was looking for in more ways to motivate myself to write.
I write articles in a similar manner but at times I have been slow to act on inspiration. It's much easier to go with the flow and get it all out and then do the editing part later.

I am trying out different ways for writing fiction. I wrote one Novel for the Nanowrimo last year and surprisingly I could come up with plots and subplots when put under pressure. But when I read it later, I found it not-so-interesting. I am keeping it aside for the moment and starting afresh.

ps : English Patient reminded me of the Seinfeld episode.

[cacheborn]

Originally Posted by Steve Pavlina

No, but thanks for the synchronicity.

Interesting.

[SarahLuvzYu]

I write exactly the same way! I can't write the way they want you to at school...It kills my inspiration to write & I get writer's block far easier...But yeah cool article

[DonnaBiz]

This is the way I write. I call my inspiration Mind Tippers, because sometimes I just feel it filling up in my brain, than it HAS to come out.

I have to hold on and wait a day or so, though because I just can't see my grammar errors and incomplete sentences right off. Spell Check gets the spelling errors, but not the wierd stuff that's spelled correctly!

[bluelighth]

This was really helpful for me, seeing as I'm just starting out with writing. I actually started working on my project(a website) last week, and I needed something to motivate me to sit and write today. Ultimately, it helped me feel better about writing what I want to write, rather than based on my original plan, and it helped me actually write and enjoy it
I was astounded when, around an hour ago, I found out I wrote over 1770 words on 3 different pages for the website, and I added another page since then.

Thanks!

[ChrisG]

I tried the school writing method a couple times, and it ended up feeling like I was turning something potentially brilliant into something rather mass-produced and bogstandard.

Cheers for the insights. I like the idea of getting it done all in one day. For editing, it's usually helpful if I completely leave it for a while- switch off the computer and go do something else- and come back later.

[Lynn 007]

Thanks Steve - perfect timing.

I've been sitting here trying to write a "year in review" piece for a speech I need to present on Thursday.
I'll put my draft aside and try your method for kick ass content. I'm hoping to leave the audience excited to say goodbye to 2010 and hello 2011.

[yocekidot]

Wow what a coincidence
When I need so badly how to write inspiringly your post suddenly appear
As a result I write this down.

[Andrew Gubb]

You know, Steve, one of my biggest critiques of your book is that you wrote it in such a premeditated way. As you said, when you ride a wave of inspiration it seems to inspire others... the book felt "dead" in a way that your articles feel "alive", because, I think, you were doing it in such a structured, controlled way.

I understand you were invested in making your book the very best value it could possibly be, but I wonder what would have happened if you wrote it in the same way as when you write your articles. Perhaps if you need to be sure to have the most incredible output possible you could invest 3-4 hours instead of 3-4 minutes sitting in a dark room and meditating for an idea.

[Andrew Gubb]

Oh! You basically mentioned my critique in the paragraph right after where I took a break from reading. Haha.

[impaul99]

Your description of the writing process is pretty much identical to what I do as well.

I just get an idea, sit down and start writing.

I'll usually throw in a picture, fix some grammar, maybe add a link and then publish.

I have never planned my articles. How can you plan inspiration, it's so hard.

BTW, One thing I noticed Steve is that at the bottom of your posts you don't have a link to the forum anymore. Is that on purpose? I wanted to click on the "Discuss this on forum" link but it's not there anymore. Is that because you want people to discuss on Facebook or something?