There's a Writer Inside You

This blog is dedicated to the writer in all of us. Whether you’re a published novelist, an aspiring magazine writer, a worker drowning in a sea of e-mails or the designated family member who writes the annual holiday letter, writing is an undertaking we can’t avoid.

As a writer, editor and writing coach, I love to talk about the writing. I know, I know, for those who dread the process—and don’t we all, just a little—my zeal might be hard to fathom. While I agree that writing is hard work, it doesn’t have to be painful.

This will not be a blog about the unintelligible rules of grammar (“a pronoun is in the subjective case when it follows a linking verb as a predicate nominative”). I might, however, answer a common usage question from time to time (for example, “What’s the difference between ‘lie’ and ‘lay’?” “What’s the purpose of a dash?”). Although I’ll offer encouragement, I won’t fill the blog with motivational mumbo jumbo (“Clear your mind of distractions, block a chunk of time, put your fingers to the keyboard and voilà, the words will flow!”). Nor will I presume to unlock the mysteries of writing through a one-size-fits-all approach.

In fact, I’ll operate on the assumption that what works for one writer, may not work for another. After many years teaching writing, tutoring one-on-one and talking with other writers, what I know for certain is that everyone operates differently. Some writers work from meticulous outlines and others just plunge in, discovering what they have to say—and the structure it will take—as they write. Some write a complete first draft without rewriting or editing, while others edit the first draft as they write, sometimes so ruthlessly they can barely string a sentence together.

Some writers swear by journal writing as a warm-up device, while others believe it’s a waste of time. For me, the question is not as much about the merit of a technique as it is about helping writers find strategies for success. The goal is not just to get the words out, but to have those words build an argument, create a scene, describe an event, structure a plot or recreate a memory in a meaningful, coherent way. Most importantly, the goal is to help writers find their voices.

I found my writing voice as a teenager, looking for a way to be heard—without interruption—by my parents. I learned to analyze a problem, support my argument and persuade my audience. And I think, on a fundamental level, we all share the same desire—to be heard and understood. Writing can be the record.

To that end, each month, I’ll tackle some aspect of the writing process or offer a strategy to make the task of writing easier, whether you’re a seasoned pro or a tenderfoot. Please send me your writing questions and I’ll do my best to answer them in future blogs.