Building better writing habits
Volume 4, Number 7 | July 2010
This month, my Nei Kung instructor and I are working through a final series of moves—an "aerobic" component that will round out my daily program and (hopefully) make it so I never need darken the doorway of a gym again.
The steps are simple—two up, two back, with some similarly simple upper body movements—but we're taking them excruciatingly slowly, at my request AND expense, for one simple reason: I've learned the hard way that foundational errors in form cost even more time and money to undo.
The same goes for writing habits: the more upfront work you do to learn the right way, the less time and frustration you'll have later on. Here are a few habits I've tried to instill during various reboots that have helped me undo the damage I did through impatience, obstinance and ignorance.
Save to "draft"
Email is one place most of us write regularly, and I think it can be a terrific tool for improving your writing. More on that in a coming issue—for now, start by quickly sketching out an answer, then saving it to your "drafts" folder for a second check later. You don't have to do it with every email, but for those that require a thoughtful answer, or a particular tone, getting a little distance allows you to be a better editor for yourself. If you are in the habit of doing email "sweeps"—checking and replying a few times per day—you have a built-in schedule for improving your writing.
Plan ahead and commit early
I still struggle with this, as I've always been a pressure-susceptible writer. What has helped enormously has been to enter writing deadlines in my gCal (Google's online calendar) as a separate calendar in a distinct color. Every morning, I see those Jolly Rancher bubbles telling me this or that is due, and having it there in purple and white makes it harder to ignore. Hand in hand with this tactic, I suggest...
Keeping running lists
Every blogger who churns out content regularly recommends this, and there's a reason: sooner or later, it will save your bacon. If you find yourself rebelling against the practice because it ties down your free-spirited self—like I do on occasion, I confess—redefine "running list". I have ideas tagged in email, stuffed into manila folders, embedded in file trees on my hard drive, and scattered across Evernote, delicious, and a slew of hard-copy notebooks. For a while, I entertained notions of consolidating them for my convenience. Now I have gotten down with liking my abundance scattered around. Whatever your method, make a note of it.
Keep your capture tools handy
Ideas do not stick until they're stuck to something. Elizabeth Gilbert tells a hilarious story of Tom Waits being visited by the muse at an inopportune moment. In his case, he suggested the muse biff off and give the song to Leonard Cohen, but I am a greedy, greedy writer and want all the available ideas I can grab. Baz Luhrman, the director, supposedly walks around with a pocket memo pad and pen hanging around his neck; I tuck Field Notes pads in everything, and carry my iPhone with me the rest of the time. Yeah, I'm still that loser who occasionally misses something for want of a pen, but far, far less often than I used to be.
Read with a pencil
If you were born before 1970, you may have a physical reaction to marking up a book. I get it; I do, too. But making notes about what you're reading as you go is enormously helpful in learning what works and what doesn't, how it's working (or not) and keeping yourself alert as you read. If you can't write in the book itself (or making notes on your e-reader is too tedious), keep a notebook and pen handy, and note the page you're referring to, so you can find it later. Because what you're going to be doing with those notes is to...
Write up what you've read
You don't have to write book reviews on your blog, or even Amazon (although buyers and browsers appreciate it!). But writing up a quick, "log-line"-like description of what you've read and what it meant to you will help activate the noticing part of your brain. If you like, you don't even have to show anyone else at first—just write up your log-line on a piece of paper or in a text file or email you send to yourself. Eventually, though, you'll want to share them, because ultimately, you're trying to train yourself not just to think critically, but communicate more efficiently. Hate doing it on your own? Join or start a book club, either in real life or online.
If there are other bad habits you've fallen into and would like to break, please let me know. Conversely, if there are fantastic habits that have really helped you, whether you stumbled on them yourself or had them instilled in you by a smart teacher or mentor, I'd love to hear about them.
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HORN-TOOTING OF THE MONTH
Ordinarily, I save up this kind of shameless self-promo for my monthly round-up posts, and I just talked about my new-fave online magazine here last month, but this month's issue of fear.less features a rather lengthy and, if feedback is to be believed, useful interview with yours truly. Founding editor Ishita Gupta interviewed me over the phone for upwards of an hour, and I swear, I cannot figure out what she cut. Also, I swear, and she didn't cut that, so I am her fan for life. Like the rest of the stories in fear.less, I share my experiences with the beast, and what kinds of workarounds I've learned from my tussles. Also, great stories from other monster-grapplers like Roz Zander and Leo Babauta.
NEWSLETTER OF THE MONTH
I hate most newsletters even more than I hate working out at the gym (see main article!). So when I not only like a newsletter, but like a newsletter put out by someone who makes his living working people out at a gym—well, you know that it's got to be a pretty outstanding newsletter. This new-ish monthly missive from my old acting colleague, Martin George, is loaded with tips, factoids and ideas, all served up with some verve and a sense of humor—just like Martin, only without the amazing abs. I don't know if you'll get amazing abs just from reading, but I know that after four months, this newsletter has finally inspired me to make a few (small) changes to my eating and exercise habits. Which is just how Martin would want it. (NOTE: as of now, only the first two issues are linked up in the archives, but I'll bet if you emailed him nicely, Martin would send you the others. He's good like that, is Martin!)
FILTHY (BUT HILARIOUS!) WEBISODES
OF THE MONTH
If you've ever heard of Pot Mom, Wife Swappers or Oklahomo!, you've heard of prolific playwright Justin Tanner. (And even if you haven't, the titles will clue you in to his sense of humor.) I met him during my brief tenure as "Tanya, the Wh*re" in the long-running late-night sketch series, The Strip, and while I've hung up my wigs and latex, Justin has kept on writing—and being justly rewarded for it with praise from all corners and top-notch productions of his work—getting better and better with time. Finally, people outside the small burgs of L.A. and New York can get a taste of what they've been missing with his long-running seriocomic soap/web-series, Avenue 43. Fair warning: it's weird and raunchy and downright nutty in parts. But it is also laugh-out-loud funny, and, as one commenter noted, redefines the term "plot-driven."
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