My Writing Process (Behind The Scenes)

If I had a penny for every time a smart, intelligent and captivating woman told me she's not a "good writer"…

I'd have bought at least 3 more cats by now and finally invested in a high-end capsule wardrobe.

You see, I think the process of writing (and creativity in general!) is misunderstood.

I believe there to be a misconception that people who are "good at writing" manage to poop out spectacular prose without even trying.

But honestly? I believe the opposite to be true.

People who identify as "good at writing" most likely have a much harder time getting the damn thing written because they have the hefty weight of all these expectations on their shoulders.

I myself, have often received compliments on my word-smithery and with that in mind… I thought it might be interesting for the curious amongst you to actually witness the birth of a piece of writing.

And so below, you will find exactly that!

From my initial draft to subsequent edits and re-writes.

I also have included what's going through my brain at each point so you can see my process.

Enjoy!

INITIAL DRAFT IN ITS RAW + NAKED GLORY - TYPOS INCLUDED (FEEL FREE TO SKIM!)

This morning I was trying to journal but I had Lizzo playing at the same time and I couldn't stop singing along. I tend to write in a free flow style and let my thoughts land on the page pretty much verbatim. And I kept writing "It's about damn time." because that's what Lizzo was siinging.

And it struck me, this is what happens when I consume other peoples content.

Their words, ideas an their vibe get stuck in my brain

And then I feel creatively blocked, like I have nothing original to say because at that moment - I donthave anything original to stay.My brain is full of other peoples shit.

This is why ever since I've pulled back further and furthe from Instagram and then endless consumptino, and instead been a lot more intenitional about my time - my creativity has flowed much easier.

And so, if you ever find yourself...

Creativity is also like being on an exercise bike. When you start cycling you have to exert considerably more effort than when you have the. momentum built up.

It's the same with me and writing.

The first few paragraphs are a slog. They hurt. They feel clunky and the voice in my head is like "STOOPPPPP THIS HURTS" but the more I progress. The words and ideas just flow unabated.

I don't even worry too much about how they land in their raw form on the page. I just let them land.

So I know the advie of 'just start' feels inanely simple and eye-rolly. But it bloody works.

I remember a time whne I would sit and google how to avoid procrastination. Or how ot motivate yourself.

I often think about going back to re-read James Clear' Atomoc Habits but then guess what, this is just another procrastination tactic.

So, as you can see, this piece of writing isn't particularly compelling yet, doesn't read easily and feels just like a collection of disparate thoughts. Plus it's full of typos.

There are also two competing main 'themes' here regarding what the piece is actually about.

On one hand, I'm talking about the negative effects of over-consumption of other people's content and the impact of on your own creativity.

I talk about Procrastination or feeling creatively stuck as one of these effects, but then get a little carried away with the idea and begin to derail the 'theme' of the piece.

Reading it back, my brain is thinking "Is this about consuming vs. creating content or is this about procrastination?"

On my first edit, I want to get make sure I'm clear on which theme I'm talking about by nailing the Intro

EDIT 1 - Clarifying The Theme + Nailing The Intro

This morning, as I sat journalling I kept writing words that weren't my own.

No matter how much I tried to focus on finding the answers to questions such as "How do I want this week to go? What do I want to feel this week? What am I grateful for?" I just kept writing "It's about damn time."

As I'm re-writing this opening paragraph, I'm trying to think about how I can inject some intrigue and some desire to read the rest of the paragraph.

As I'm messing about, I've just had the idea to play about with the idea that Lizzo is in the room with me, desperately trying to get me to stop writing and get up and dance with her.

This morning, Lizzo came along and f*cked up my morning pages.

There I was, happily writing away, musing on how I want my day to go and pondering all that I'm grateful for and in walks¹ parades Lizzo.

She tells me it's bad b*tch o'clock, it's thick-thirty. How she's been through a lot but she's still flirty.

And her presence here is a clear invitation to get up and shake my butt.

But now is not the time. I'm in the midst of my morning journaling session.

I try to ignore her, but if you know Lizzo, you know her personality is not one you can ignore.

But I am determined.² You see, in my morning pages, I follow a method of continuously writing, letting my thoughts land on the page pretty much verbatim without worrying too much about what comes out.

And if my pen stops moving, it's a clear sign I've started to overthink.

So no Lizzo, I know you want me to come dance with you, but I am committed to my craft. Maybe next time?

I turn back to my pages, but for the life of me, I can't stop writing "It's about damn time." on repeat.

¹ I usually wait until the end to go back and swap out all my verbs for stronger ones, but occasionally I edit as I go if it's an easy switch. I might still swap this again in another edit though.

² On a quick read back, I decided to can these three sentences as they felt unnecessary to the story and weren't adding anything.

Generally, I'm pretty happy with this as a beginning.

Now it's time to flesh out the middle and make this relevant to my audience of business owners who create content and often struggle with imposter syndrome, feeling like they're unoriginal, have nothing to say and are uninspired.

EDIT 2 - MAKING IT RELEVANT TO THE AUDIENCE

OK, Lizzo. You win.

You see, what's happened is that even though I'm trying my best to ignore her, the lyrics of this absolute tune have slipped their way into my thoughts and without meaning to, I've let Lizzo hi-jack my own self-expression.

And although this is very clearly because I'm trying to write whilst playing music with lyrics at the same time (never a good idea) - in the age of constant content consumption that we live in, I suspect this creative takeover happens a lot more than we realise.

When we innocently scroll, trying to avoid doing something we don't want to, we're actually taking on other peoples' ideas. We're soaking up their words, their vibe and their expression.

And then when we go to squeeze out our own creativity, is it any surprise that the stuff that comes out ends up sounding unoriginal AF?

Well... that's because IT IS.

Your brain is so full of what everyone else is saying and doing, that there's literally no room for your own ideas to grow.

This bit is ok, but before I start obsessing about how to make it better, I want to bring my point to a close by offering a 'solution'.

So before I go in and try and smooth out the transition between the opening story and delivering my idea, I wanna make sure I can finish first!

(TAKEAWAY: always prioritise finishing before finessing otherwise the article never gets done)

EDIT 3 - MAKE A POINT + WRAP IT UP

This also lines up with my personal experience. The more time I spend away from social media, the more creative I feel.

But what I usually see happen however is that when we feel uninspired, we end up spending more time online in search of inspiration.

We scroll and scroll in the hopes that something will spark a genius idea in our own brain and yet, the opposite is usually true.

The more of other people's content we consume, the less likely we are able to authentically express ourselves.

Imagine your brain as one of those yellow and green kitchen sponges if you will. If you go and soak up that glass of water you accidentally just knocked all over your desk, you wouldn't expect to suddenly be squeezing out orange juice in the sink now, would you?

I've always found the same to be true with content creation.

It's why social media detoxes and 'content consumption' detoxes are vital to staying creatively free.

So next time you're stuck without inspiration, don't turn to your phone.

Seek out something else that gets those creative juices flowing. (Walks, yoga and anything that gets my heart going usually works for me.)

And if all else fails, you can try the 'continuos writing' technique where you just let your pen flow on the page and see what happens.

Just don't invite Lizzo, k?

I'm pretty pleased with this ending as I've managed to not only give a 'takeaway' that the reader can use in their own life but also managed to tie it back in with how I started the piece.

And just to say, the reason I wanted to make a clear point and give a 'takeaway' is so that the next time the reader is feeling uninspired... they might think back to this article and try something else.

This means that really, they're thinking of me which, my friend, is 'real-life omnipresence'.

It's when you aren't just showing up on their phone, but in their life too, without having to worry about hashtags, typos or whether it's unprofessional to work in your pyjamas or not.

You're the voice in their head helping them live a better and happier existence and if you prove yourself able to do so... well, there's a high chance they'll keep coming back for more <- the goal of using storytelling in content creation.

Real-life omnipresence should be the thing you're aiming for my friends.

It's the OG of 'going viral'.

FINALLY - I'll now bring the piece together, and go through checking for:

• Clarity: is it clear what I'm trying to say?

  • This is where I will simplify as much as possible and remove any sentences which are confusing or redundant to my point.

• Readability: is there enough flavour that makes it enjoyable to read the whole thing?

  • I'll add in some real-life specifics instead of generalisations, look at verb choice and add in details/words that my audience specific audience will relate to. I'll also be careful not to overload it so my point doesn't get lost!

• Emphasis + Flow: Does the piece have a nice rhythm which keeps things moving?

  • I'll look at how I start sentences and look to avoid the monotonous "and then... and then.. and then.." feel. I'll also read it out loud and see if I can add any formatting so that it reads as close to how I intend for it to be read.

Final Edit - The Finished Thing

This morning, Lizzo came along and f*cked up my morning pages.

I'm happily writing away, musing on how I want my day to go, pondering all that I'm grateful for and BOOM, Lizzo's here.

She tells me it's bad b*tch o'clock, it's thick-thirty. How she's been through a lot, but she's still feeling rather flirty. OK?

Her arrival is a clear invitation to put down my pen and practise the vocals for my imaginary audition for Pop Idol.

But now is not the time, Lizzo.

You see, for my morning pages, I follow a method of continuously writing.

I let my thoughts land on the page completely unfiltered without worrying about what comes out.

It's where I shake off whatever mood I happen to have woken up in and flex my creative muscles so they're nice and warmed up for whatever task I have to complete next, like this article for example.

And if my pen stops moving, it's a clear sign I'm getting caught up in the end product instead of prioritising the process, which is not the point of the exercise.

So the answer's no, my dear beloved. I know you want me to stop and turn up the music, but I am committed to my craft. Maybe next time?

I turn back to my pages and I kid you not, I can't stop bloody writing "It's about damn time" on repeat.

*sigh*

Mhm, OK Lizzo. You win.

You see, what's happened is that even though I'm trying my best to ignore her, the lyrics of this toe-tapping tune have slipped their way into my thoughts and without meaning to, I've let Lizzo hi-jack my own self-expression.

In this instance, it's obviously because I'm trying to write whilst also playing music with lyrics a.k.a A bad idea.

But in the era of constant content consumption that we live in, I suspect this creative takeover happens a lot more than we realise.
When we innocently scroll trying to avoid writing that email newsletter... we're actually taking on other peoples' ideas. We're absorbing THEIR words, THEIR vibe and THEIR way of expressing themselves.

And then when we go to create our own stuff? We have nothing original to say.

Our brains are so full of everyone else's thoughts, that there's literally no room for our own ideas to grow.

But what I usually see happen as a result of this, is that when we feel uninspired, we end up spending more time online in search of inspiration, not less.

We scroll and scroll in the hopes that something will spark a moment of Genius and yet, the opposite is usually true.

The more of other people's content we consume, the less likely we are able to authentically express ourselves.

Just imagine your brain as a kitchen sponge. If you soaked up a load of tea with that thing, you wouldn't expect to be squeezing out orange juice in the sink, would you?

I've always found the same to be true with content creation.
What you feed your brain determines what your brain will produce.

And a diet of other people's processed thoughts isn't a good fuel for your own originality.

That's why content consumption detoxes are vital to staying creatively free.

The next time you're stuck without inspiration, don't turn to your phone.

Seek out something else that gets those creative juices flowing. (Walks, yoga and anything where I micro-sweat is usually my go-to.)

And if that fails?

You can try the 'continuos writing' technique to get those creative wheels turning, where you just let your pen flow on the page without stopping, even if/especially when what you're writing makes zero sense.

The point is simply to clear your head, observe your own thoughts with curiosity and see if any diamonds are hiding amongst the chaos.

Just don't invite Lizzo, k?

And there you have it!

Obviously, there were 'micro-edits' I did as I worked up the final thing but the whole time I was prioritising the reading experience for my audience.

This particular piece ended up as an email newsletter I sent out to my list, but it could have just as easily ended up as a Blog article instead.

Hopefully you can see how not all writing turns up on the page fully realised, and it's through the process of editing and re-writing you are able to turn goop into gold.

So go forth, write messy! Create freely! Edit ruthlessly!

HUZZAH!