Writing Advice for Right Now
Throughout 2021, Medium creators have offered some pitch-perfect tips for ‘these times’
If 2020 felt like a doozy of a year, 2021 was even… doozier. And thank goodness for writing, which is how so many of us process living through tumultuous times.
But how is one to focus on writing in times like these? Many of us lack our preferred amounts of time to write, our ideal writing environments, and/or the emotional bandwidth to really create. But that doesn’t mean we can’t still write. Here are five principles we think are uniquely useful for right now, from Medium creators like you:
You can write big in a small amount of time
If I’m honest with myself, knowing I have only two hours on a Tuesday morning is liberating for me in a way solitude never was. This time crunch means that I have to eschew perfectionism; I have to write with less fear and trepidation. I have to just jump in because there is no time to waste — and I better make it interesting. — from “On Writing Without Solitude,” by Sadie Hoagland
A lot of writing happens away from the page
“Just think about it deeply, then forget it. Then an idea will jump up in your face.” It’s a common misconception that the hard part about writing is the part where you sit down to craft actual sentences. That’s wrong. The hard part is coming up with the ideas to start those sentences. Or figuring out how to fix the structure of your essay once you’ve finished writing it. Or how to open a piece, or even harder, how to end it. Or, worst of all, figuring out what you actually want to write. — from “Don Draper’s Infuriating Piece of Writing Advice That Never Fails,” by Rosie Spinks
Pauses are just as important as producing
Between May of last year and May of this year, I got a lot of creative projects done… And then on May 15, it all stopped. That’s the day I got my Covid-19 vaccine. It’s like I could finally take a breath; there was an end in sight. (Also around that time, several of my projects wound down to their conclusion.)
Almost, immediately, the guilt kicked in. I’m a creator. Shouldn’t I be creating, like all of the time? But I just couldn’t make myself go, go, go anymore.
Without consciously deciding to, I took a big old juicy break. — from “Why Taking a Break May Actually Power You Forward,” by Sloane Miller
You don’t need a “perfect writing space” to write
The perfect writing space isn’t physical. It’s temporal. It’s emotional. And yes, okay, it’s kind of physical, but maybe not in the way we’ve been told to think of writing spaces. — from “Advice for ‘The Perfect Writing Space’ Is Elitist Bullhonkey,” by Yi Shun Lai
The time to write is right now
Perhaps the most important writing lesson of this pandemic year is that time is short and change is upon us. The work that’s important we get to someday is important that we get to now. The urgency that has fueled this year, the sense that we’re living in remarkable times and must work hard to tell our stories, is one I hope I’ll carry always. — from “10 Pandemic Writing Lessons I Want to Remember,” by Laurie Frankel
What did we miss? Drop a link in the responses to your favorite writing advice on Medium! And for more go to the writing topic page, or keep checking in here with Creators Hub. And thank you, as always, for sharing your work with us.
