Why my messy writing process works

It’s tempting to think that writing comes easily to everyone but ourselves.

But if we could see inside their heads, we’d probably find that their experience is much closer to ours than we thought.

Writing is not a natural process for the human brain. So when humans write, humans generally struggle.

Even I don’t find writing easy. But I’ve come to realise that this struggle can actually be a good thing.

Before I explain why, here’s a peek at my own all-too-human writing process.
 

Deadline first

Starting is the hardest part. I find it pretty much impossible without a deadline. In fact, I wouldn’t be writing this now if I hadn’t promised it to my editor by tomorrow morning (and if she hadn’t berated me for finishing late last week).

But until I start, I usually have no idea what I’m going to say. I struggle even to imagine myself writing, let alone to think of something worth sharing. Often I’ll look at a previous issue and feel like it was written by a stranger.

In some respects, it was.

Just like you, I have many responsibilities besides writing. I also have a life outside of work. So I’m constantly changing roles throughout the week.

When I’m in ‘dad mode’, for example, my writing skills aren’t usually in high demand. They’re sealed off, and trying to switch my brain to ‘writing mode’ becomes quite tricky.

As a result, I avoid touching my keyboard as if it were a hotplate.
 

It gets easier

As soon as that first sentence is down, though, things get easier.

It doesn’t really matter what it says – I usually change it later anyway. What matters is that, from that point onwards, my writer persona takes over.

As I type, new ideas start to materialise almost miraculously. I jot them down as placeholders in [square brackets], then reorder them into a logical and (hopefully) captivating structure.

By now, my head is usually spinning, such is the effort needed just to get this far. I don’t want that confusion leaching into my writing, so I take a quick break.

Once I’ve parked my bottom back on my seat, I rewrite my original (often terrible) intro, check the order of the other ideas in the list and flesh them out.

Two to three hours later, the first draft is done.
 

Final push

I put it to one side for at least a day, giving me some much-needed distance from it. And the next morning, I’m ready to do battle.

I edit it without mercy, often removing and reordering whole chunks of text. I trudge through a dense monologue of jumbled and ambiguous thoughts, wondering why it seemed so clear only yesterday.

Then I finally send it to my editor.

She spends several hours going through it again, tightening, clarifying and otherwise improving what I’ve written. Then I go through and review her changes.

She proofreads it, I take in her corrections. And finally – my fingers almost trembling over my mouse – I schedule it to go out at 7am the next morning.

The relief I feel at that point rarely lasts until the end of publication day, as it dawns on me that I’ll soon need to start the whole process over again.
 

Hard write …

This is just what I do. We all have to find what works for us, and your mileage will vary. I have the luxury of deciding what to write about (although that can be just another excuse to procrastinate).

I also tend to plan more thoroughly if I’m writing longer documents, such as a report.

But my point is that it doesn’t matter if it’s a messy process.

I’ve been writing for three decades, and I still don’t find it easy. We evolved to speak and listen, not to read and write. So producing any document is a real workout for the brain.

Yes, we get better at it over time. But if you still find it hard, that’s because it is.

At least, anything that’s worth writing is hard.
 

… easy read

But here’s the thing: it’s good that it’s hard.

This process of typing and ordering our ideas slows down our thinking enough for our brain to make sense of them. It makes it easier to draw on our personal knowledge bank and see where the gaps are.

It enables us to properly connect one idea to another and forces us to create a structure out of the jumble of thoughts in our head.

In short, it makes us do the work for the reader.

Whenever you find something incisive and easy to read, bear in mind that the author probably found it hard to write.

And if you’re struggling with writing a document, that could well be a sign that you’re on the right track.
 

The good news

There is some good news in all this. The human writing process, for all its difficulty, is the gateway to our best ideas. There’s often real gold in our brains if we’re prepared to use our keyboards to find it.

And because it’s hard, those who don’t already avoid it often aren’t that good at it. So if you can be just a little bit better, you’ll stand out immediately.

Don’t aim to be an amazing writer (yet). Just pick a couple of key areas and aim to get ten per cent better in those. Work on your readability, for example. Or start improving your introductions.

The crucial part is to get started.

The American author Louis L’Amour wrote more than 100 books, but he still observed that the water doesn’t flow until you turn on the tap.

So if you don’t have a deadline already, agree one with someone else. It could help you cross the chasm between your office door and your keyboard.

Image credit: Unsplash+ / Getty Images

The definitive guide to transforming the writing of individuals and teams

GET YOUR FREE PDF COPY NOW

Author: Rob Ashton

---

Rob Ashton is the founder of Emphasis and posts mainly about writing and the brain – a topic he's been researching for seven years. You can read more of his work in Writing Matters – our weekly bulletin of career-building writing advice backed by science.