On paper, writing should be one of the easiest things to do on the planet. You just sit and write, right? You couldn’t be more wrong. Writing, or more accurately writing well, can be an incredibly tough endeavour at times. Well, with that mind, here’s an essential piece of advice that could really help clear your mind and put your finger to a keyboard.
Time to Burn
Time. It sounds incredibly underwhelming to offer this as advice but for me, it’s the most important. Give yourself time, as it’s impossible to turn creativity on like a tap. You’ll often finding yourself writing and thinking, “This is not working. Why have I forgotten all of the words?!” It’s because you’re forcing yourself to write. You’ll get nothing done. Well, nothing of any quality at least.
Deadlines are important. You need them to put some finality on your pieces and close them off. However, you need ample time before your deadline to write something great. If you give yourself less than a day for writing something worthwhile, the pressure might get to you and you’ll fold. You’ll turn in poorer quality work and let’s be honest, nobody wants that.
As previously mentioned, creativity can’t be turned on like a tap. You have to accept that some days you’ll just not get anything down. It can be for a multitude of reasons, but honestly, sometimes it just doesn’t work. There’s nothing you can do about it, so the best bet is to step away and come back to your work another day.
See it From Another Perspective
This might sound like a plea for procrastination, and to be honest, yes, in writing you need that from time to time. The best bosses understand that writers, no matter what discipline of writing is being pursued, cannot be chained to a desk and write solidly from 9 till 5. Writing comes in peaks and troughs. Both the boss and writer can understand that they can’t just procrastinate all day and expect to get paid for it. However, it’s crucial for managers to understand that in order to get the best out of their writers, they need to give them space and time to get their pieces written well and on time.
This means realistic deadlines need to be set. It’s not saying “I need a 2000-word script by tomorrow”. Sure, it can be done, but don’t expect it to be anything special. There will be times, obviously, where this just naturally comes together and you can achieve high word counts quickly. But you can’t expect this regularly. There needs to be an understanding between the two.
Simply put, the best writing has time to breathe but also has the guide rails of a deadline, so as to not get lost indefinitely. Writing is hard, but it’s also fun. It can be the greatest job in the world, but only with the right settings. Businesses get their material, and writers get quality job satisfaction. What more could you ask for?
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