Be Mindful of What You Take into Your Psyche
AN “EPIPHANY OF MATURITY” INTIMATION
This One is Specifically About Your Writing
Note: I do not usually write articles about writing but this particular subject hit my psyche and vexed my spirit a little too often in recent months, so I decided that I am going to have a little say about it.
Writing Critiques
Don’t make the mistake of taking writing advice for golden thus driving yourself bonkers trying to mold your writing to fit into that box. Yes, there are rules to grammar, word choice, form and the likes but that does not mean that you have to conform to every single rule that is laid out. I have come across so many blog posts, articles and conversations that give writing advice on one specific subject or writing rule (an example would be an article about: when to use adverbs, or the proper use of pronouns) and all the readers who comment jump on the band wagon of agreeing with that rule or advise going as far as admitting how they don’t do x,y,&z but need to start doing it. Or you have those who agree saying how they can’t stand to read a book, article etc. when that rule is not followed. Worse are those comments from people who say things like “yes using this rule makes the difference between being a good writer and being a ‘Great’ writer”. Comments like those vex my spirit because I want to ask them “who made you the “Guru” of writing to judge someone else’s in that manner?”
I am not talking about an Editor or other professional writing coach helping their client become a better writer when they may point out errors in the writing process, that is different and is coming from a place of wanting to help a story be the best it can be. No, I am strictly talking about those who choose to judge another once that body of work is published, and they are reading it. But the worst type of comments to me are those written by writers who bash themselves saying that they really need to stop doing that or that they have to work harder because they don’t practice that rule when they write. Essentially talking bad about themselves and their abilities as if they don’t measure up to the “Standard” of a good writer. This saddens me because there are often reasons for the way a person chooses to write and put their story together, even when it may have errors in the rules of writing. We are all good writers just because we write!
Now, can we improve? Yes. Do we improve, evolve or change styles over time as we grow? Yes. But just because one may choose to use too many adverbs (from my above example) does not mean that story or article is not a good read or good body of work it may be on purpose for that particular piece. It is not for us to say — unless our opinion is asked for — it is simply for us to hopefully enjoy.
What I am Really Saying is
Stop taking everything you are told that is wrong about how to write into your psyche. Remember you don’t have to keep it there, tell yourself: “I Don’t Have Time to Put You in My Psyche and Keep You There”. Read it, take it in and if it feels good keep it and implement it, but if it feels bad then process it and remove it. That is a way to NjoyPeace in your life, removing what does not serve you from your mind and keeping only those things that do.
Everyone can’t write the same way. Think about it If we all start writing the same way then there is no creativity in the game and all of our writing would sound the same. I don’t know about you but I am not planning to fit in the box with everyone else anytime soon, so I choose to write the way that feels right to me even if I use too many adverbs (that example again) because it would be written that way for a reason and on purpose, and even if it is not, sorry about that I am not perfect after all. None of us are.
