To the uninitiated writer
If you're new to Steemit and don't believe you can write and write well, there is still hope. Many here have opted to post videos and pictures, and that's fine. But ultimately, everything has a story, a narrative. You're here because you want to influence that narrative.
Everyone has to start somewhere. Babies grow up into toddlers and try to walk over and over again, until they do it. All without knowing for sure if they would ever be able to walk. We all started out not knowing how to write. If you're reading this, you learned how to read, write and do math without knowing for sure if you'd ever be competent. Now you're competent and you want something more.
This article is intended for the novice writer, for the aspiring writer. I'm not here to tell you how to write. That is a matter of personal choice and style. If you read the articles of the most successful writers here on Steemit (or anywhere else for that matter), you will find that they each have their own character, their own distinctive style. This distinction, the choice of words, intensity, pitch, and familiarity, is a part of who we are. Your style is what you are here to share.
I see the written word as a window into the mind of another. To see how they think, how they order their thoughts, the fuel that burns within them, that they use to write. If you read my earlier blog posts, you will see what burns within me.
An unexamined life is not worth living. Writing is one way for us to examine our lives and thoughts. If you follow these simple tasks, you will examine your life and find that which burns within you. You may well find as you write, something you did not know was there, and write about the topic that burns within you, yearning to get out, onto paper or a screen.
To express your feelings and thoughts on that topic, that little gem you found, you will need to build some new muscles, writing muscles!
A prayer for collaboration with the Great Creator
On my wall, I have a daily reminder that writing is a collaboration between me, and that power greater than me, the universe. On a piece of letter sized paper, in big letters, I typed up and printed out the following (from Julia Cameron's book, The Artist's Way):
Great Creator,
I will take care of the quantity,
You will take care of the quality.
I see the universe as a great information processor. Everything is information and information wants to be free. There is information in you, as in me. My tiny little brain is no match for the universe so, to avoid conflict with the universe, I offer those words in the block quote above as a sort of prayer for collaboration with it. I cannot think of a greater power to summon, but I always think of writing as a collaboration with the Universal Processor, the Great Creator.
Writing starts with gratitude
Now that we've set the stage, we can begin to act. The first step is to take a sort of inventory, to express gratitude for what we have. So every day, I write a gratitude list, a list of ten things that I'm grateful for. It's a very personal list, but it's something that I do to remind myself that no matter how bad things may get, there is still something for me to be grateful for. Rain or shine, I write this list. Here's an example:
- I'm alive.
- I have enough for today.
- There is peace in this house.
- I am at peace with myself.
- I have an article to write today.
- I'm listening to cool music by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, with London Grammar thrown in for good measure.
- We had a little rain yesterday.
- I love to write.
- I have the day off.
- Everyone I love and I, create peace, love and prosperity together, one day at a time.
That list above is typical for me. As you can see it's a very personal thing, writing that list allows me to take notice of and give thanks for even the small things in my life. Nothing is too trivial for gratitude.
Warm up that writing muscle
Next is the morning page. I also got this idea from the book, The Artists Way, by Julia Cameron. The morning page is where I fill up a page in my word processor of choice, LibreOffice Writer. You can use pen and paper, Microsoft Word, or Apple's Pages. It doesn't matter. The goal is to fill up a page with whatever is on your mind.
Don't worry about style, grammar, punctuation or even spelling. It's up to you. This morning page is just for you and no one else. You might even find that it becomes a sort of journal for you. But the point is to work that writing muscle. For me, this is the warm-up to writing an article like this.
Watch your language and empty your mind
I write a morning page everyday and it's not just to warm up my writing muscle. It's also to check my self talk. I take what I'm talking about in my head and put it on the screen and I read it. Am I talking negatively to myself? Or do I lift myself up by my own words? Do I use my words against me or others? Or do I use my words to find the strength within me to bring peace to the world?
I have found that I also use the morning page to talk about the stuff that burns in me. Stuff that others in my life might find just so incredibly boring, that really doesn't interest them. And that's OK. I've said everything I wanted to say in my morning page. Now that I've got that off my chest, I'm available for other people in my life. I'm not listening to me, I'm listening to them. My mind is free to be mindful of others. That is one more reason why I write the morning page.
The spine tingling conclusion
So there you have it. You now have a few more exercises you can do to build your writing muscle. Use them everyday, just as you would exercise by walking, running, or lifting weights. With regular use, you will improve your skill at writing, your writing muscles will get stronger. You will find that you can write longer articles, stay on point, keep the audience engaged, and know that when you lay your head to sleep tonight, you did the right thing.
Write on.
100% original content by myself
Thank you. I've just started here on steemit and plan to get started by using the tools found in Julia Cameron's, The Artist's Way. I found your post both motivating and useful.
You're welcome. Have a fine day. :)