You can only write as cogently as you think. Writing itself is not the thing, its the conduit. When you find yourself struggling to write, or writing in circles, it may well be that that thoughts are too weak, too trite, too embryonic.
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Let the thoughts gain rigour and flavour. Don't rush to make language of them. Make them arm wrestle each other in the muffled dark of your brain. They must earn their right to the page. If they can't, thank them for their time and allow them their dignified death.
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Rushing to the glitter and ruffles of fancy adverbs and adjectives might be a stylistic choice, or it might be desperate compensation for weak thoughts. Respect yourself enough to know the difference. A good percentage of your work may not survive this culling.
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Just as we are irritated by people who chat for the sake of chatting, we despair at reading words written for the sake of typing. Stress test your thoughts by mulling, reading, listening, chatting to friends and strangers. All of this refines your thinking and thus your writing.
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Be exacting because you ultimately know you are more than what you write and you are loved and appreciated regardless and in spite of the little words you scribble. It's so weird, what we do. Its seriously unserious work. It's as easy and impossible as THINKING.
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Brought to you by someone who's struggling with writing at present. For months I've dreaded coming to the page. I'm disappointed by most things I am producing. But these are just feelings - hence why I am reflecting on process, the metabolising of thought into language
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(we interrupt this dispassionate lecture on writing for this Existential Roar Into The Abyss)
WRITING IS VERY VERY DIFFICULT?? MAYBE WE SHOULD ALL DO SOMETHING (literally anything) ELSE? IT'S NOT BY FORCE FOR ME TO BE RAGING AT COMMAS AND SCRABBLING FOR SYNONYMS FOR 'STRANGE'
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@Vanessa_Kisuule
Lots of people are stunningly articulate in conversation but struggle to replicate that in writing. So while you can't write clearly if you don't think clearly, it is definitely possible to think clearly and still write absolute vomit. I also have empirical proof of this.
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@Vanessa_Kisuule
So how do you feel about this thread? Vibrant writing very much alive and kicking, fuelled by something a world away from weak or trite thought, driven by passion.
Write without reading back, stow your judgement away for a while. let thought race to catch up with emotion.
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