Developing a Writing Practice
On why developing a writing practice is highly beneficial, and how to go about it.
Writing, for many people, is coloured by their experience in school. The way writing is used in school is one aspect of how writing can be used, there are many.
The way it is used in school, mainly, is to allow people to check that the information they are trying to put into your head has done so to a degree that satisfies them. Learning is more learner centred now than it was when I was in school. But still, I think it would be fair to say that writing in school is used as a tool that teachers use to judge progress in students.
This judgment aspect can introduce certain ways of thinking about writing, including self-limiting behaviours. I’ll give you an example. I had to write a journalistic piece in English class, I think fifth year, and I got a terrible mark for it. For years after that, I believed that I was just no good at that kind of writing. It was like a script which went off in my head every time I had to do this kind of writing and it took an awful lot of work to reframe it. As DH Lawrence said “The mind can assert anything and pretend it has proved it.”
A second mode of writing, however, is as a way of organising your thoughts.
Joan Didion said “I don’t know what I think till I write it down.” Richard Feynman said it helped to clarify complex ideas. William Zinsser in his great book ‘Writing Well’, said that writing is a process of discovering what you want to say.
There is great benefit in using it in this way. It could be journalling, or writing a blog on a subject you’re interested in. Writing has great value when you’re doing it just for yourself.
Our understanding and experience of the world are shaped by the narratives we use. Borges would call them ‘fictions’. As the author Joseph Jaworski said “We do not describe the world we see but we see the world we describe.”
So as an easy win, I’d suggest starting a small journalling habit. You can password protect a document if need be. Check out Marcus Aurelius’ ‘Meditations’. If you like to record things in a more visual way, get a beautiful notebook for yourself and something nice to draw with.
What do you write? Anything the hell you like.
END.