How I screw up my writing
There is no one way to do something wrong, there are plenty. And only when you have done it all wrong, can you do it right.
Here are some of the most common ways I screw up my articles, and I hate doing that.
1. The interrupted one.
You began writing an article, but you realised that you were at work, or your mom called you, or your crush texted you, or your phone beeped because your friend tagged you in a meme and you got busy scrolling down the Facebook feed. Half an hour later, (or half a month, if you’re like me) when you realise that you should probably go back and finish it, the flow has been interrupted. You stare at the unfinished draft for 10 minutes (or 10 seconds, if you’re not like me), and you decide to let it die the neglected death in the drafts.
2. The over-researched one.
You are in full firm!! You have an idea, and you start researching about it. You go through every possible material you can dig, but your thoughts get kind of forked. You come across some really good articles on the same topic, and you realise that you don’t have enough meat. And you figure, having compared your writing to the really great writer’s blogpost or something, that maybe you should just keep reading his work until you magically become as good as him and only then should you write. Congratulations, you will never become a writer this way.
3. The disorganised one.
This happens to me a lot. I do some good research, come up with some good things, and I write it all out. And then, the Gujarati in me surfaces, and I want to use every single point I came across in the article. Nope, I ain’t letting anything go waste.
Next thing I know, I have a huge ass list of independent points, without a flow whatsoever, and I am clinging on to each word, but I know that I can’t publish it cause it is shit. Another baby dies a neglected death in the drafts.
4. The personal one.
Yeah, you know what I am talking about. That one. You want to publish it, but you know it reflects some personal details you don’t want to reveal out in the open. Or, it contains some opinions that might not be well received. You just know it in your gut that you can’t and shouldn’t publish it, cause deep down, nobody wants to not-fit.
P.S. If you can’t relate to this point, TEXT ME. I NEED TO LEARN FROM YOU.
5. The over-edited one.
Aah, if only I had a penny for every time this happened to me!!
This is an important article, maybe a part of job interview, or for a magazine, or something really important that you can’t afford to screw up. You gotta do it well! Your reputation lies hanging on the oxford comma that you missed in the third paragraph.
So, you re-write the entire article a few hundred times and edit it and proof-read it a few gazillion times, until you are convinced that it sucks. You accept defeat. Every aspect of this article has been so over-speculated that you finally give up on liking it.
It’s a lost cause. Forget it.
Here are some of the most common ways I screw up my articles, and I hate doing that.
1. The interrupted one.
You began writing an article, but you realised that you were at work, or your mom called you, or your crush texted you, or your phone beeped because your friend tagged you in a meme and you got busy scrolling down the Facebook feed. Half an hour later, (or half a month, if you’re like me) when you realise that you should probably go back and finish it, the flow has been interrupted. You stare at the unfinished draft for 10 minutes (or 10 seconds, if you’re not like me), and you decide to let it die the neglected death in the drafts.
2. The over-researched one.
You are in full firm!! You have an idea, and you start researching about it. You go through every possible material you can dig, but your thoughts get kind of forked. You come across some really good articles on the same topic, and you realise that you don’t have enough meat. And you figure, having compared your writing to the really great writer’s blogpost or something, that maybe you should just keep reading his work until you magically become as good as him and only then should you write. Congratulations, you will never become a writer this way.
3. The disorganised one.
This happens to me a lot. I do some good research, come up with some good things, and I write it all out. And then, the Gujarati in me surfaces, and I want to use every single point I came across in the article. Nope, I ain’t letting anything go waste.
Next thing I know, I have a huge ass list of independent points, without a flow whatsoever, and I am clinging on to each word, but I know that I can’t publish it cause it is shit. Another baby dies a neglected death in the drafts.
4. The personal one.
Yeah, you know what I am talking about. That one. You want to publish it, but you know it reflects some personal details you don’t want to reveal out in the open. Or, it contains some opinions that might not be well received. You just know it in your gut that you can’t and shouldn’t publish it, cause deep down, nobody wants to not-fit.
P.S. If you can’t relate to this point, TEXT ME. I NEED TO LEARN FROM YOU.
5. The over-edited one.
Aah, if only I had a penny for every time this happened to me!!
This is an important article, maybe a part of job interview, or for a magazine, or something really important that you can’t afford to screw up. You gotta do it well! Your reputation lies hanging on the oxford comma that you missed in the third paragraph.
So, you re-write the entire article a few hundred times and edit it and proof-read it a few gazillion times, until you are convinced that it sucks. You accept defeat. Every aspect of this article has been so over-speculated that you finally give up on liking it.
It’s a lost cause. Forget it.
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