What makes a good writer?

Well, that is of course, subjective and all an opinion. There are no good or bad writers as with anything else in life. It is only our mind, or the collective mind, that makes anything good or bad.

However, like all things that we do, the more we do it, the more we get even better at it. That does not mean that each time we write it will be utterly amazing, more often, it will not be that great. That is the point though, we have to do some less than brilliant work in order to hone our skills and get to the work that is the best we can do. 

If we think about what to write then it does not come from our true essence, not from our heart and soul, but from the mind. We start to guess what others might like to read…an act of complete futility, no one can guess what others want, they often do not even know themselves. As Henry Ford famously said, “if I’d asked my customers what they had wanted they would have said ‘faster horses'”.

Therefore, the way to get better at writing is to keep writing no matter what, to keep putting the words down and to just let the words flow and not think it but do it. That means that eventually, the best words will come from the authentic you.

Just keep writing and writing and writing. Much of it will never be shared but the very best will be and that is how we become better writers.

Write for you not them.

Back with an old friend

After 6 1/2 years of continuous daily blogging, that’s over 2,400 blogs without missing a day, I decided to take a break in April. I’ve been back a few times, but I’ve certainly dropped or lost the daily habit. It has been good having a break and I was getting a little stale, just bashing out the posts to keep the streak going. I was doing it for the ego and not the love.

I have been reading a few of my old posts and that has sparked the bug again, it’s like being back with an old friend that you haven’t seen in years but the love is still there no matter what.

I have missed my blog and that is a good thing, I think before I had taken it for granted just how much joy this daily exercise in writing gave to me. It is a period of time where I am in the moment, I am sharing my thoughts, my wisdom, my experience, and most often, I am talking to myself, giving myself advice. It is the joy of doing and not the outcome. If you take regular daily steps then you get to the outcome anyway and you avoid the suffering of thinking about the big picture which is too daunting.

Of course, like most of us, we are good at giving advice and poor at taking it or acting on it, especially our own. We are not good at eating our own dog food.

I actually do this blog for the joy of it and I genuinely do not mind if no one else reads it, that is the best way to be, I write for my own pleasure and you could say ‘well, just write in a paper journal or an online journal and don’t bother publishing it’ and, to be honest, there is something in that. I did do 6 plus years of daily journaling, which was never published.

However, I do know that many people over the years have also enjoyed reading my blog, so if you have something to say, and we all do, then it is definitely worth sharing it.

Until we share our work, it is not created, it is not born, by hitting that ‘publish’ button we are actually stepping over the divide from thought and fear to creating, and that is a step not to be underestimated, in terms of how it builds our confidence and habit of showing up and being brave enough to ‘step into the ring and dare to be great’ (Brene Brown).

It could ramble on some more, but that is it for today…it’s great to be back with an old friend.