Want to know what has helped me most this year to be a “better” writer? Being willing to be a “bad” writer. Yes, I’m using quotes, because we all know what constitutes a “good” or “bad” writer is a matter of opinion. What am I talking about?
It sorta stems from Malcom Gladwell’s 10,000 hour rule. You might have heard this “rule” before. The concept is simply this… the key to achieving true expertise in any skill is a matter of practicing, albeit in the correct way, for at least 10,000 hours. Simple right? Here is a short but useful video where he expands on his meaning.
Okay, if you didn’t know, now you do. It’s a really cool concept that, even more importantly, makes me feel like I haven’t been wasting the last ten years of my life writing. (But wait, Jamie didn’t he specifically say that the quality of the 10,000 hours matters, and you are talking about being bad at writing?) I know, stay with me here. The way I’ve been applying this to my writing and creative life is this…
You need to do a lot of a thing to get really good at it. (There are always exceptions, blah blah blah.)
(Okay, this is the really important part.) You have to get feedback. You have to share your work to truly learn what parts are good and not good.
And
You can’t let the fear of not being “good” stop you from, being.
I’m gonna paraphrase something I’ve heard Conan O’Brien say, because I couldn’t find the exact quote. (And if I don’t bring up Conan, who even am I?) Basically, someone asked, how have you made so many great, funny shows over the years? And his answer is, well, the secret is some of them really aren’t that good. Classic.
And here is a quote I could find, that touches on the same idea.
“Someone explained to me once that your creative life is laying down little tiles, and you can’t see what it’s all making. Sometimes it’s a slightly darker tile than the other, sometimes it’s a really brightly coloured tile. Sometimes you’ll lay down seven grey tiles in a row, but you’re making a much bigger piece which when seen completed could be quite fantastic. But you’re doing it tile by tile and day by day, and you can’t know.”
-Conan O’Brien
That all resonates with me and leads me to what originally made me start writing this post, which was this video from Wheezy Waiter. Which you can watch or not watch if you want. TL;DR can be summed up with this quote.
“Making lots of things, makes you better at making things, preparing you for that ultimate great thing you want to make.” -Craig Benzine
It reminds me that a lot of the time you have to wade through garbage to find the good stuff. No one is preforming at peak all the time. Building a body of work is learning and growing along the way. How sad would it be to just start as good as you will ever be and never grow, change, or improve? Yikes.
This year I have shared more short stories, sent out more queries, had more novel critiques, and published more newsletters than ever before. (I mean, the bar was fairly low, but still.)
Putting too much pressure on, or being precious and guarding with, my work was a hindrance to my growth. Letting go of some of that has helped me feel more accomplished and fulfilled as a writer.
Letting go of the idea that everything I put out into the world needs to be the best thing anyone has ever read has been liberating. (Obviously an exaggeration but close enough.) Without letting that idea go these newsletters would never go out. Yes, surprise, surprise, actually doing the creating part of being a creative and letting someone see that creativity has felt very good.
I want to encourage everyone to be okay with not being amazing all the time. Don’t get me wrong you ARE amazing. I’m just saying not everything you make needs to be amazing to have value. Sometimes we make stuff just to learn how NOT, to make stuff. It’s all part of the mosaic tiles that eventually make up our creative lives.
"Not everything you make needs to be amazing to have value." I need this as a tattoo. And needed to hear it today. Thanks for sharing the videos and your perspective!