[4-minute read]
Do you edit as you write? If so, your writing process might go something like this:
Dear John
A little voice in your head pipes up, “You can’t call him John! Call him Mr. Cuddy!”
Another voice inside says, “OMG! You’re right! I need to change that!”
So you change it to Dear Mr. Cuddy and continue, It was great to see you at our get-together last week.
Your little voice sneers again: “Get-together! No one says get-together. Say ‘event’ or ‘meeting’.”
This time you might fight back. “No,” you say to the little voice.”I do mean get-together. The other words are too formal!”
And so it goes.
When your allotted writing time is up, you have eked out a fraction of your document while wasting most of your precious moments engaged in a debate with your inner voice.
If that process sounds familiar, I have good news and bad news.
The good news is that I can help you deal with the little voice more effectively. The bad news is that I cannot get rid of the critical voice (talk to your therapist about that).
How to Avoid the Inner Debate
Let’s go back to our example above.
You write Dear John and your inner critic goes wild. Instead of listening or arguing with it, you simply say, “Thank you for sharing. I’ll put that in brackets and look at it first when I revise.”
Then you keep writing. The next time the inner critic chimes in, you repeat the process: “Thank you. I’ll put that in brackets,” and you keep writing. Your draft will look like this:
Dear [John],
It was good to see you at our [get-together] last week.
You write until you have finished your first draft. Then you get a cup of coffee or call a loved one or pet your dog. You have completed a piece of work and are ready to let it marinate until you go back to it and indeed look first at the text in brackets.
Remember the Magic “Delete” Button
My first book was published when I was in my mid-20s. I worked on it for over a year before I ever set a sentence to paper. Every time I sat down to write, I would think of a sentence, start to write it, and then a brutal voice would fill my head: “That’s verbose! That’s stupid! No one will want to read that!” The words would shrivel before they reached the page.
One day, I finally talked back to that critical voice. I said, “OK! Maybe it is stupid. If it’s no good, I promise to throw it in the trash. But let’s write something!” That shut up the critic. And I still remind myself when the bucking bronco of inner criticism shakes me, that I can delete my writing whenever I wish and no one will be the wiser.
So remind yourself that if you can just get your first draft written, you are free to change it or wipe it away.
Maintain the Flow
The whole point of writing a first draft is to give you something to revise. No one writes a perfect first draft and everyone I know has an inner critic. We just need to navigate our human frailties so that we get a draft written and then go through a methodical process of revision.
So put your questionable words and phrases in brackets and just keep writing! Remember that if it’s truly atrocious, you can delete it before you show it to anyone.
Write straight through your first draft and you will have the satisfaction of completing an important task.
Or should I say, “completing an important job”?
Or “closure”?
Or “finishing a vital task”?
Oh, little voice, don’t you ever take a vacation?
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About Worktalk
Worktalk prepares teams to write clearly and confidently amid the pressures of constant communication. Our trainings and webinars equip individuals with the mindset and tactics to strengthen credibility, increase influence, and generate new possibilities.
If you’re wondering how Worktalk might make a difference in your organization, call Liz Danziger at 310.396.8303 or email lizd@worktalk.com.
Want to read last month’s Writamin, “Do Emojis Belong in Business Communication? Click here.