Read and Write Everyday

About a year ago I came to a life-changing realization.

I wanted to be a writer.

So, I became a writer. After all, the quickest way to become something is to do that thing until you become really good.

I’ve always emphasized the importance of writing, especially as a designer, as a necessary skill for being a professional human. Whether writing is part of your immediate job description or not, it’s a fundamental way that people have communicated for quite some time.

How exactly did I start? I am fortunate enough to have found a coworking center with an amazing, collaborative community. A few of us came together with the goal of pursuing personal writing projects and keeping each other accountable.

Initially, I was determined to write a book that discusses the cross section of design, entrepreneurship, and education. This is still a goal of mine, but it shifted once I identified a more short-term, action-oriented goal.

Another member of this group began writing articles on Medium with the goal of developing a community around her work. After hearing more about her individual goal, I thought this would be a great way to also build a community around content that I care about.

Just like most things in my life, I dove right in with minimal planning.

I brainstormed my first article using a visual mind map of different topics and concepts which eventually were distilled down into a rough outline. Once I had this starting point, the only thing left to do was sit down and actually start writing.

This may sound easy, but I know myself well enough to know that in order for me to follow through with something, I needed to establish a routine.

So, after trial-and-error and much tweaking, I decided to write 30 mins every morning. This may not sound like a lot, especially from a writer’s standpoint.

Plenty of writers claim you have to put in your 1,000 words each day or similar prescriptions. Personally, as long as I actually sit down and write everyday, I don’t really care how many words I pump out.

After beginning this daily routine, I realized that deciding on a writing topic was the hardest part. I was spending a good chunk of those 30 minutes wracking my brains for the perfect topic or idea. In order to address this problem, I decided to include 30 mins of reading before writing each morning.

Once I paired these reading and writing sessions together, I quickly made huge leaps in terms of the quality and quantity of my writing. One clearly informed the other. Reading different perspectives from other writers gave me the ability to continue their conversations through my own lens.

The final part of my writing process comes during the rest of my day. Whenever a specific question or idea pops into my head, I take note in my phone and revisit it the next morning. This gives me an endless supply of inspiration when it comes time to sit down and actually write.

This all may sound great, but what good is writing if no one reads it? How else do you learn and grow as a writer? This is exactly why I chose Medium. It’s honestly the easiest way to draft articles, receive feedback, and publish/share them with people who care about your content.

After reading and writing almost each day for the past year, I have grown in more ways than one. Not only has my writing become stronger; my overall ability to communicate thoughts and ideas to others has grown.

Do you want to start writing? Was this a helpful way to kickstart your writing process? Let’s continue the conversation on Twitter at @williamfrazr or leave a comment below.

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