Bitty Ruminations 64

Sometimes a post comes so irresistibly titled that you have to devour it immediately, like that box of chocolates in the hotel-room minibar. I present as proof “The Ultimate Guide to Writing Better Than You Normally Do.” Right from the get-go (people still say “get-go,” right?), the post had me nodding, and once the cricks in the neck went away, I was inspired — mere days after Easter weekend, no less — to resurrect Bitty Ruminations. Hallelujah!

Yes, writing is a muscle, sometimes tumescent in the early hours of the morning, sometimes late at night. Yes, writing is filled with insecurities, and there’s nothing like the blank page to make you feel like the worst hack that ever lived on this planet.

Yes, the Internet needs to be conquered. Maybe not by shunning it the way I do, keeping away almost entirely from smartphones and Facebook and Twitter and chat applications, but by being sternly aware of its pernicious impact on your productivity.

But no, editing is not more difficult than writing. At least for me. Getting through the first draft of anything is always the worst. But once that mountain is climbed, editing is merely making sure that I retreat from that earlier peak of effort steadily and smoothly. I love editing. It’s my favourite phase. Spit. Polish. Spit. Polish. Spit. Polish.

Yes, I ask for feedback when in doubt. We are always so close to what we write that we forget, sometimes, that another person may not see things the same way. But no, I don’t take everything the feedback-giver gives me.

And yes, you have to read, read, read. This, to me, is most elementary. How can you be a writer if you don’t read? Sure, journalism is literature in a hurry, but it’s still some kind of literature, right? Going back to that writing-as-a-muscle analogy, other writers are the mirrors at the gym that goad you into more reps with the weights, more minutes at the treadmill.

Yes, it’s horrible to see someone else in better shape and you’re consumed with envy and self-loathing, but that’s what keeps you going. No one said practicing a profession in the public eye was going be easy. Otherwise, you should have stuck to software.

PS: It’s-true quote No 1: “Think of your laptop as a machine like the one at the gym where you open and close your inner thighs in front of everyone, exposing both your insecurities and your genitals.”

PPS: It’s-true quote No 2: “The truth is, it’s demons that keep a tortured writer’s spirit alive…” I don’t think I’ve ever met a writer who’s happy with anything he’s done.

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