Enjoy Being a Bad Writer
 
You can only write regularly if you’re willing to write badly. If you accept bad writing as a way of priming the pump, a warm-up exercise that allows you to write well, you’re more likely to write any time you make the time.
 
Can you remember a time you tried something new? I can. When I took my first painting class, I was happy just to be putting colors on a blank canvas, seeing how one complimented the other. It was fun because I had no or low expectations. It wasn’t until I tried to make it something and the results mattered, that I started getting frustrated. It was a great exercise in self-awareness that has stayed with me.
 
Now, when I write, I expect my first draft to express the idea I want to get across. Once I get that idea out, I can go back and rewrite it.
 
When I had a Column in the Maui Weekly, I wrote with a deadline. The only way I was able to get an article out every two weeks while still teaching and working with clients, was to write it one day, rewrite it the next, and then read through and edit it the third day.
 

• The first day – creativity
• The second day – refine (sometimes rewrite the entire article)
• The third day – make the final changes and edits

 
That had to be okay, or I would have to give up the best and free advertising the article provided. Since I’m not a sit-down-and-get-it-perfect-the-first-time-writer, I accepted the process. It worked every time.
 
See if you can enjoy your bad writing, even if you have to do it in 15-minute clips. I think you’ll find that you free up your creative muse and have fun in the process.

Enjoy!

Jasmyne