The Two Hardest Parts of Writing

The following article was written by John F. Harnish, Special Projects Director, Infinity Publishing. While John is speaking here about books, basically everything he's said applies to booklets. See if you recognize yourself.

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The two hardest parts of writing are starting and stopping. Folks come up with all kinds of reasons not to start a writing project. Once started, they have a difficult time stopping.

Writers can come up with an endless list of excuses for not starting that range from the believable to the totally bizarre. Such as: my research is incomplete; I’m waiting for a call back from my agent/editor to clarify the assignment; I’m thinking it through in my mind before I start putting words on paper; it’s Thursday and I never start a new project on a Thursday or Friday; I’ll start as soon as I finish doing my laundry; my dog ate my writing hat and I’m waiting for a new one to come from L.L. Bean; the phase of the moon is wrong and it might rain; my fortune cookie said I’m about to begin a long journey so I’ll plan on starting when I get back; Venus is rising!!!

Sometimes you simply have to excuse yourself from the “excuse phase” and just start writing. I’ve always found the pay check waiting for me at the completion of an assignment to be a great motivator to get started. The sooner I got started, the sooner I got paid!!! Carl Sandburg was once asked what his basic approach to writing was, and he simply explained that he started by just putting one word after another, and then another, and another, and so on. This same technique is used by all writers, but you need to prime the pump with a few words and then begin to build on those opening words.

Once started, there is often a deluge of words flowing forth to fill (and sometimes overflow) empty pages. At times, it’s as if your vast idea pool gates have opened and all kinds of sensational concepts are surging out. Suddenly, mind-blossoms are blooming as you see more ways to enhance your work-in-progress.

Now the hard part is stopping!!! With a surging flow of ideas to consider, there is a clear and present danger of overwriting. This is when you need to self-edit the content so you are presenting material that’s directly associated with the topic. If it doesn’t fit, you must cut it out. Stop prolonging the process by rewriting and rewriting and rewriting. Far too often rewriting and rewriting again drains off the sparkles of pure creativity that worked so well in the first draft. Stop second-guessing yourself by pondering if this word is better than that word. You know when you’ve adequately covered the topic and that’s when you’re finished – so be done with it and just stop and send the piece off on time.

Enjoy starting…John

NOTE: You can subscribe to Infinity Publishing's free, monthly, commercial free ezine for writers and authors, "The Author's Gazette," through a sign-up box in the bottom left corner of their home page at www.InfinityPublishing.com

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Until next time,

Paulette - encouraging you every step of the way

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