Instead of finishing the project with a clever bang, Jack takes the occasion to briefly list the four most helpful things he learned to not give up during the course of the project.
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Writers Block. On the last day. What’s the point? I already know what I want to write about. I’m done with a large portion of it already. All nice and typed up. But what I was originally writing about felt fake. Instead I will share 4 lessons I’ve learned in the last 365 days of daily writing. They’ve helped me immensely and will continue to be used in all my other work.
1. There is no such thing as writers block. If you don’t know what to write about, write about that feeling. Or write an explanation of what you’d like to write about but can’t find the words for. Every time I used this trick, writers block literally became the subject of the work. It gave me a weird opportunity to psychoanalyse myself. Reflect.
2. Scheduling writing into every day way crucial. It only became easy to write daily once I’d planned it ahead of time. It’s like an imaginary deadline that has to be met. A level of imaginary stress builds up as the deadline arrives. Before I know it my brain jump starts the engine and begins to pump ideas in desperation. And poof. It happens. Ideas long before I reach the keyboard..
3. Ignore the audience. Write what you find interesting first. Then edit it to be understood by the audience. If you love what you’re writing it’ll write itself. If it feels like work it’ll be stressful and take a toll on you. In my experience this took the form of experimentation. I would try out various writing tricks or test my skills with entirely different forms or writing. Other times it would just be a reach into a topic others feel uncomfortable discussing. If readers don’t like it they don’t have to read it. Once editing I decide how to word it to best convey it to a reader.
4. Don’t worry about how it sounds on the first go. The existing text can be edited, but it must first be written. This is basically a take on “Write Bad.” In allowing myself to write poorly first, to exploit the general idea, I discovered much more time existed on the tail end of the session to make the work read the way I want. I could edit for as long as I wanted knowing if time runs out I’m always finished.
That’s it. No epic boom. No party. Nothing more. Just for tips that helped ease 365 days of original content.
Don’t know what’s next. Probably more of this.
At a pace I feel more comfortable with.
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