Re: Being A Better Writer
I read this piece about being a better writer today and immediately had some thoughts. Especially the sentiment in the opening paragraph:
I have this fantasy about my writing. That one day I’ll write something so raw, so unadulterated, so moving that the reader runs outside screaming about how life finally makes sense.
I think this is a universal desire. Anyone who cares about the craft of writing or takes their writing seriously wants to write well, and write in a way that makes a reader feel something.
I'm not a writing expert, but I've tried to write seriously for about 17 years now. In that time I've realized that the act of improvement is so subtle and incremental that it's difficult to notice any change from one piece of writing to the next.
There are definitely pieces I've written that I've been proud of in the moment. Some pieces that feel of higher quality than others immediately. Sometimes I have a ton of time to re-write and can cut viciously or get my word choice and sentence structure really dialed in. Other times the reporting or research I've done is so extensive that everything kind of just comes together naturally and easily.
But most of the time I think you just do the best writing you can and move on to the next one. You don't notice much of anything. There's not some buzzy feeling you have telling you "Yeah, this one was a banger."
The original author makes a comparison to gym-going that was spot on, but should be expanded on: not only is intermittent writing as useful as intermittent gym going, but how you notice the progress in both lifting and writing is the same.
I don't go to the gym one day and feel significantly stronger than I did yesterday—sometimes I feel weaker. But if I look back on the lifts I was doing or the physique I had five, 10, or 15 years ago—there's a clear difference.
The same is true of writing. Sometimes I'll look back on a piece I wrote a decade ago and feel a bit embarrassed about it. When you have that feeling it's important to realize that is a good thing. It means you are a better writer today than you were then.
The progress is slow. It might never feel like actual progress in the moment. But if you're intentional about improving and write consistently, you will notice in the long run.