Writing is a skill, and a creative art. Often people are attracted to writing as a career, because it satisfies the something deep in their soul called creativity.
There’s nothing quite like the feeling of accomplishment when reading your writing and seeing the impact your writing has made on another human being. It doesn’t have to be the next literary prizewinner. It could be a great landing or sales page that brings in lots of customers, a fabulous blog post, or a poem or heartfelt words on a loved one’s birthday card.
And like all creative arts, writing doesn’t just happen. We still need to work actively at our craft.
The writers’ rule should always be activity rather than passivity.
Passive people are those who simply wait for the creative genius to light up their mind and are quite content to write only when they feel in the mood for it. However, active people will still work at their writing craft, even if the light of genius is not presently burning.
Active Voice In Writing
Good writers know that writing in active voice is easier to read, concise, and less subject to misunderstanding. Using active voice is the best technique we have to make our writing concise. It ensures the action is clear and focuses on the person completing the action.
In the same way, we should in ourselves be active, and work consistently to complete the action of writing.
Activity In Writing
Being active in your writing is more about actually writing, rather than spending time in non-productive ways. It is too easy for writers to say that the genius light is not burning today and then accomplish nothing. Even when you are having a bad day, you can still write.
Taking action includes having time to write, using that time productively, and ensuring that methods of procrastination do not take over the writing time. Good writers will also be active in their daily habits.
Obviously, you will tend to be more creative when you are feeling fresh and energetic. However, use the times when you are less energetic to still actively achieve your writing work. Creativity is not the only requirement for a good writer; hard work is a necessity for success.
Ways to Get More Active
Here are some ways writers can become more active rather than passive in their writing:
Set Goals, Tasks and Deadlines
- Giving yourself some goals and tasks to complete each working day will help you to keep focused. When you work to a deadline you find that you are most productive in the final few hours of the time, rather than in the first. This is because the deadline itself acts as a motivator.
- If you are working on a long project, the deadline can seem too far away, and you can convince yourself you have time to procrastinate. However, if you break up the project into smaller tasks and give yourself daily or even hourly deadlines with specific tasks to achieve, you can be more productive in your writing every day.
Be Disciplined
- Have a routine and stick to it as much as possible. Get up at the same time each day, and start your writing at the same time. Give yourself regular breaks but be disciplined. Creative writing does not just magically happen, much as though we wish it would.
- Disciplined writers will make themselves sit down and start writing, even if they are not in the mood. Disciplined writers will work to practice and improve their art, even when no deadline is looming.
Make a Start
- This is one of the most important things you can do to get active in your writing. Do not spend time going around in circles staring at a blank computer screen.
- WRITE! Write anything. Give yourself a draft outline of what you are going to write, with a key phrase or word for each paragraph. Then fill in each paragraph.
- You may find that starting in the middle is easier than writing an introduction. You can always come back to a particular paragraph that is proving difficult later on. Make a start and you will often find that the creative genius lights up and the words will start to flow.
Be active in your writing and TAKE ACTION! Make a start, keep going and be disciplined about your writing and your precious time.
This is the last in the A=Action habit (for the time being) in the CREATIVE HABITS series. I hope it’s given you some things to think about and action..
