Writing Begets Writing
I’ve initiated a stream of consciousness writing practice thanks to posts by Todd Brison. Now — I’m only on day two. But some interesting thoughts have come up. I think that when you write in big chunks it teaches you several things.
1. You have stuff to write about.
That doesn’t always mean that its stuff that others want to read or that it’s good. But it disintegrates the fear-based story that people tell themselves about not having anything to write about. That’s a story I used to tell myself.
I didn’t use stream of consciousness writing to break this limitation. But I did “chunk writing” for a coaching program a few years ago. It was basically stream of consciousness writing.
In the program, we were expected to write in-depth answers to questions. We had to fill an entire page per question (15–20 questions per assignment) to get full credit. For those assignments, I sat and wrote whatever came to mind about the subject. I did that every week, multiple times a week, for months. After that I viewed writing differently. I no longer used the excuse, “I don’t have anything to write about.”
There’s always something to say. People might not care, but that’s where creativity enters the picture.
2. You capture different ideas.
Ideas that would otherwise get stale and rot in your mind. I have ideas all the time. I am constantly amazed at the wisdom that floats through my mind. I don’t always get them out and on to paper or the screen.
I’d be a more prolific writer if I took the time to write down my ideas more frequently. Which I’m doing now with stream of consciousness writing.
3. To circle back, you now have more ideas to write about.
You start writing, mostly gibberish. Then good ideas come out. Then you write in-depth on those ideas.
For instance, I am now writing this post, which came from stream of consciousness writing. Because I liked what I was writing about, I decided to turn it into a Medium post. Ta-da!
Writing begets writing.
You think you have no ideas? Just start writing. Write, write, and write some more. You’ll have a good idea. Then write about that.
