Posted on 10-31-23

So in a last post I spoke about writing, I mentioned when first getting started with your ideas, however you think it or say it, is how you should write it.

Until you learn what kind of routine, you have in your daily writing, until you learn how to propagate the flow of writing, this is good advice because you can edit a blank page.

Once you learn your writing, how you put words down on paper, then you can begin to alter your word choices for better word flow.

Writing is a journey. I do not write how I used to. I’ve learned in the years of writing I have under my belt. It’s made me better to the point where editing my work is easier because I know my crutch words and I know when my sentences do not work.

Do I still miss it? Of course I do.

However, you cannot edit a blank page. This is sound advice, true advice, and advice that all writers should remember.

Many writers talk about editing with a groan in their voice, but the moment you review your work, you are editing.

You might also find that, as you write, your style will change within your manuscript. This is okay, too. Because editing comes after you have written words. Editing is the stage where you begin to fix what you wrote to a more cohesive flow, looking for the plot holes, the clunky sentences, instances where you can describe things clearly, placing issues, sizing issues (people, places, things), timing issues, locales, etc.

The more you write and become aware of your trip-ups, the better you will become at writing well the first time around.

And practice. Practice writing a sentence and rewriting it. Take a paragraph out of one of your WIPs and rewrite it. Practice with new words, using conjunctions, or even play around with semicolons, colons, Em dashes (my personal favorite). Reshape your work into something you might not normally do. It’s from this you will learn how to experiment with sentence structure and begin to turn out sentences that make better sense and describe what you really want to say.

Thank you for reading and don’t forget to…

Write On!