Why Every Word Matters: Even the Crappy Ones
A little encouragement if you are a frustrated writer.
Writing can be maddening when the words won’t come, or we don’t like what we write. Sometimes, it can feel like a waste of time to plot story events that we can’t see clearly because they’ll probably all change anyway. And what about when we write a handful of chapters and realize the story started in the wrong place, or we didn’t quite have our main character’s trajectory as mapped out as we thought, and we need to start over? Or worse…we write the book—the whole thing—and it’s broken. Like really broken, as in a page one rewrite.
Those things happen, and they suck because we feel like we aren’t moving forward and reaching the goal of a finished novel that we’re proud of.
But wait. Let’s question that line of thinking for a minute.
Aren’t we, in fact, getting closer with every word we write, regardless of whether it makes it into our manuscript?
I’m a big fan of the saying, “Words cannot be wasted.”
I don’t believe waste is possible in writing.
Why? Because it’s all practice.
All the novels I started and never finished, the unreadable rough drafts, the tens of thousands of words I cut from my last book and had to rewrite; none of it was a waste of time.
It was practice.
I had to write those words to clear the way for the ones that truly belonged in the story.
I had to write shitty to learn to write better.
I had to begin somewhere.
When I began writing fiction, I didn’t understand that the writing process was really about iteration. Each piece—story development, drafting, revising, and polishing—requires multiple rounds of examination. Some of us do it as we go along, toggling back and forth between different parts of the story, while others drive straight through and then circle back to the beginning.
And sure, as we gain experience, we become more efficient.
But even so, no one writes a perfect novel in one shot. No one plots everything perfectly on the first go. No one catches everything they need to fix in one editing pass.
The danger zone is when you consciously or subconsciously believe you will be the exception.
Why is that dangerous?
You set yourself up for failure by expecting too much from your writing and yourself and that opens the door for the three poisonous Ps (procrastination, perfectionism, and pessimism).
Remember that writing is a practice.
That means you’re repeatedly performing the task for the purpose of improving. You’re not writing because you’ve got it all figured out.
The excellent ideas only come after you’ve examined and tossed a few bad ones. The same is true of prose.
So don’t judge the words that get tossed as worthless because they’re anything but that. Instead, celebrate the words that don’t make it into the final product. Have gratitude for them. The fact you wrote them means you’re a working writer. You’re doing the thing that many people only dream about.
So cut yourself some slack, and do not be afraid of crappy writing, shaky plotting, or revising more than once.
It’s practice. It makes you a stronger, more efficient writer.
Focus on the gain and not the gap.
Stay willing to practice and be patient with yourself and your words.
Thank you for being in the writing world, for showing up and writing your stories, for weathering the hard times, juggling everything that comes with this chaotic life, and still carving out time to dream and write the stories that mean so much to you. No matter how big or small the progress, it matters, and it all counts.
And with that, I’m grateful for you!
You may not realize it, but you are someone else’s example. Just by doing what you love, you pave the way for another to take a chance and embrace writing and storytelling.
And where would we be if we didn’t have stories or only had a handful of people telling them? That is a small, cold, dark, narrow-minded place that we actively oppose together by putting down our words.
Just in case you need a reminder today…
You matter more than you realize, and so do your stories.
You are a writer.
You are uniquely creative because you are you.
You have every right to pick up your pen and write the story you wish to see in the world.
The only permission you need to do this is your own.
You can learn all the things you need to craft a book you are proud of.
You do this because you love it and that is valid.
It’s okay to take breaks, and to stop writing for a while. You’re still a writer.
So, friend, I invite you to look in the mirror today and see the beauty and courage you put in the world.
Take a hand, raise a hand. Realize that we are showing each other how.
