Writing Rehab: Annual Check-In
Yay 55 followers on Medium! Do you know how awesome that is? I know, I know, maybe 55K will get me on the path of “monetized content” and a private jet that will whisk me away to a hammock on a tropical island. But whatevs. 55 is worthy of celebration.
It’s been a year since I started this blog, encouraged by my friend Matt, and many, many others. I had spent years being social media shy, believing that anything I think has probably been thunk and better articulated already. After all, the internet has so many words. It took me months to click “Publish” on my first post, Writing Rehab, publicly declaring my quest towards better writing… After sending draft after draft to friends in various time zones.
My second post, The Realities of Modeling was born out of bits and pieces of repeated conversations I’ve had with people. It seems to resonate the most with people, but then again, it might just be the pretty pictures and the allure of modeling itself. It’s an industry that continues to attract my attention. One funny thing about writing? Once I’ve written about it, I feel like I have to form new opinions about the subject. It keeps me from repeating the same storylines during social interactions. But what else could I write about? What am I qualified to have an opinion on?
My logic is simple: If people always ask me about something, then it’s an interesting enough topic. That led me to write How I learned English. By now I’m worried that I’m beginning to think everything that happens to me is interesting, a warning from one of Anne Lamott’s editors in Bird by Bird. Also, I had developed a bad habit of leaving drafts in Medium for months at a time.
I’ve long made peace with the fact that I’m too much of a scatterbrain to keep a paper notebook and a pen with me at all times. But I’d never leave the house without my iPhone. So I journal and jot in Notes. The notes are super messy and mostly just rantings. I’ve also made peace with the fact that I have a terrible memory. So now I write everything down. Occasionally I’ll write something and make myself giggle. “Har har that was clever.” Or I’d have a cool idea for a post or a hook. Or I’d read an awesome quote or article that inspired me. Or a podcast episode that got me really pumped. Everything gets tap-tapped into my iPhone.
Since Medium is blocked in China, I keep individual notes under topics that haven’t quite taken shape yet, and keep adding ideas to it, a sentence here, and thought there. Then I dump all of the bits and pieces into a draft on Medium, and the not-even-an-outline draft might sit there again for another couple of months. Pile up enough of these pieces, and I’ll begin to re-write. Then edit. Then edit again. Then send to friend. Then edit again. Sometimes I even go back and edit published posts.
Point is, with all my wayward thoughts trapped under broad topics, I can reexamine and strengthen the logic as I go. I’m not that brilliant of a writer, but the accumulation of 38 different instances of me having a lightbulb moment might just add up to one interesting post [she said, smiling into the camera and pointing to her 74 followers]
Not funny? I’ll keep working on that. Come back in two weeks and see if I’ve deleted that sentence.
Some things I wrote with an audience in mind, like the work advice piece. I began the draft after the Millennial vs. Millennial showdown. Then it sat in Drafts. But a conversation with a friend, then another, inspired me to go back to the topic and finished the post. Sometimes I write just because I’m angry (angry is a great antidote to “writer’s block,” just don’t hit publish while you’re still angry). That’s how I wrote the AQI post.
One year later, I’m still kind of embarrassed to call myself a writer. But I’ll keep writing until I stop being stupid about it.
So I’m publishing this, for once, without sending drafts to my friends (but please please message me if there’s a type-o).
