I have been a writer for as long as I can remember.
Even after some 40-odd years of writing (as an adult), I still love the creative process of putting words together into some kind of meaningful (hopefully!) message, polishing up my first draft, editing, formatting and adding images... all before I hit the "publish" button, or submit my words to some print media.
Although it's by no means my primary source of income, writing does remain a "business" of sorts for me, and that means that — no matter how attached I may be to enjoying the creative process — I have to look at the practical aspects of writing and publishing.
What is over the horizon?
But it Takes SO Long to do "it" Properly!
It's one of the more common complaints I hear from many wannabe writers and creatives.
It takes 10 minutes to formulate an idea enough to decide to start writing, then an hour to turn out a first draft, then another 90 minutes to edit and polish that up to publication worthy status, then another 30-45 minutes to pick and choose illustrations and images and formatting...
... and before you know it, you've spent five hours creating an article, or a blog post, or a newsletter piece.
The follow-up statement to that tends to be some discontented mumbling about "not being able to AFFORD being a writer."
It might surprise you to learn that it took me 27 minutes (give or take) to get from idea conception to publication on the post you are reading right now!
The ferry arrives....
What I Learned About Creative Writing... From the News Industry
Like many writers, I "did time" writing bits and pieces for newspapers and magazines... and occasionally "scripts" to be part of talk radio.
One of the things you learn in those industries is that perfectionism and a tendency to "overpolish" a story is your enemy. And whereas you might be horrified to publish something that seems less than "completely finished," 98% of your readers only care about the message you are sharing, NOT whether you have created some kind of award winning prose.
And when you're in the business of writing, that becomes very important to remember!
Imagine, if you will, the difference between being able to pump out maybe two marvelous pieces of writing in a day... and perhaps getting paid $20 each for them... and being able to pump out 12-15 "perfectly serviceable" pieces that you also get paid about $15-20 each for.
Just do the math!
Grasses in the evening sun...
Good Enough... and the 98% Solution
Now, let me start by saying that there is absolutely nothing wrong with striving for excellence in your work, as a writer! Please keep that in mind.
But if you're treating writing as a business — that is, you're somewhat counting on making money at what you do — you have to put practicality on at least an equal footing with perfection.
And so, the best advice for aspiring writers I can offer is to learn to be content with "the 98% solution," at least in instances where you are not trying to make it perfect or win a Pulitzer.
What brings this advice to mind, at this moment, is the proliferation of so-called "Tribes" here in the Steemitsphere. With that, the realization that I would like to keep a measure of integrity in my content by creating tribe relevant content, going forward... and that means multiple publication styles... often multiple times a day.
If that's your strategy, you can't afford to sit around and spend several hours polishing each piece up to perfection!
The golden hour....
Temporary... vs. Permanent
Something to keep in mind when you write for your blog, or some venue in the world of Steem: Your words here may be "permanent," in the sense that they are committed to the blockchain for all eternity, but they are only functionally relevant for the seven day period until rewards are distributed. After that? Well, they fall into some kind of "archive," just like newspaper and magazine articles.
Many writers, however, "become writers" based on the idea that they are going to write books.
Writing a book is quite different from writing a blog post or an article... in the sense that the words (and style) of books are designed to be around and referenced for a very long time.
As such, that striving for perfection and getting it right is definitely warranted!
But we're not writing books here... so keep that in mind when you find yourself slipping into that pattern of trying to "do too much" with an idea and a post!
Thanks for reading, and I hope you're having a great week!
Comments, feedback and other interaction is invited and welcomed! Because — after all — SOCIAL content is about interacting, right? Leave a comment-- share your experiences-- be part of the conversation!
(As usual, all text and images by the author, unless otherwise credited. This is original content, created expressly for this platform.)
Created at 190828 11:44 PDT
1070
Article Certificate:
This piece was created for the Creativecoin community as it relates to the creative process, and for the Intrepreneur community as a personal business development related post.
Length: +/- 800 words
This is original content, created on August 28th, 2019.
@denmarkguy thanks for sharing! I'm a writer too and I can absolutely relate to how perfectionism holds me down. 😥
It has gotten better but my speed is not yet fast. It is comforting to know that someone understands this struggle (of practicality)!! 🌻
This post was curated by moi, @princessmewmew on behalf of the #creativecoin curation team, because your post has a creative topic, and because it’s just plain awesome 🥰
Creative Coin is a tribe for creative Steemians!
When you make a creative post you can either use our front-end https://www.creativecoin.xyz or you can use any Steem front-end and just use the tag creativecoin as one of your tags.
If someone with staked Creative Coin upvotes your post you will be rewarded with Creative Coin and Steem.
Check out @isaria’s post here to learn everything there is to know about Creative Coin, and read here to find out more about what sort of creative topics you may post about under the tag
Sign up to Creative Coin here using Keychain or Steemconnect
Thanks for the "stamp of approval," @princessmewmew! I'm all in favor of moderated tribes, and you guys are doing a good job!
I have to be honest with you! That is the best piece of advice I have been given in forever! Sometimes I stress and why?
You are right! Thanks and have an awesome day!
!tip
Thanks @dswigle, and thanks for the tip!
I just know I was raised with "writing" being about the book format... and nobody in the news industry gives a hoot and holler about how much time you put into a piece that's going to be wrapping fish tomorrow. Sad... but true. And relevant here, because we are creating content with — in essence — a one week shelf life.
Good advice! What is the reason for the Article Certificate?
Posted using Partiko iOS
Thanks @cindyhartz!
The "Article Certificate" is just my own token statement in battling spam, tag farming and similar behaviors in the community as part of the #NewSteem movement. It's a statement that "I thought this through, and placed the article with appropriate tags."
🎁 Hi @denmarkguy! You have received 0.1 STEEM tip from @dswigle!
@dswigle wrote lately about: Tree Tuesday Forks Over The Day Feel free to follow @dswigle if you like it :)
Sending tips with @tipU - how to guide :)
well put ... find that line between spending too much time 'being perfect' and 'good enough' .. then publish.
Hi there and thanks for the informative insights into writing. I guess just produce something, balancing quantity with quality and it will get easier as you keep at it every day.