Writing for Fun: Can It Be True?

I struggle with writing. So much of the time it feels like pulling teeth...or cleaning teeth...something very much akin to going to the dentist. Any chance to delay, distract, or disconnect from such obligations are welcome. Yet I can't help but feel the urge to complete an essay or blog, to fulfill the anticipation of satisfaction that comes with a job (hopefully well) done.

So it was refreshing to find this article on the art of revision by journalist and writer John Douglas Marshall at IndieReader.com.

Here are some of his tips, in a nutshell:

1) Revisions mean the crap you just wrote is only the beginning. Don't forget that the first draft is just that - the first attempt at making words into art. Admittedly, this is easier for some than others...but at least you can sleep on it, read over your work, and refine it. If only such process-orientation was accepted in the world of piano-playing.

2) Revising is easier on the nerves than writing the first draft. You've already broken the ice, now it's time to enjoy the nuance and unpredictability of looking at a page with new eyes.

3) Try viewing the act of writing as continual revision. Embrace the technology age...cutting and pasting has never been easier. This is one I really like, because my neurosis is somehow quelled by the idea that I can fix as I go. This rarely actually happens, though.

4) Multiple revisions mean multiple realities. So, after a half dozen drafts, doesn't it look like we have six different papers? I never thought about how good that can be - who knows where those drafts may take you for future projects.

As someone revising two papers for publication/presentation at the moment, Marshall's article helped me think of all this work as a pleasure. OK, I'm not gonna lie, it also helps that I'm at my favorite coffee shop sipping an amazing cappucino. Reading what I just wrote, I must be a writer-in-training....

Check out IndieReader.com for more articles, a blog, and lots of other goodies here.