Mechanic with the broken down car
Over the last few weeks, I have been running a masterclass series for a PR and Communications agency on writing and storytelling. As is often the case, there were enough moments when I questioned (in my internal quiet voice) my supposed expertise and whether there isn’t someone out there better suited to doing said masterclass.
Four sessions later, I didn’t have a conclusive answer but, in the middle of exploring storytelling narratives and the importance of journaling (in whatever form), I did realise that I have partially lost my way when it comes to my own creative practice.
“Creativity is a habit, and the best creativity is the result of good work habits.” — Twyla Tharp
Writing is a muscle. Different styles of writing are different muscles. When you exercise some and neglect others, you get the writing equivalent of the ‘chicken leg physique.’ I have been writing articles and the infrequent post for the last few years and so that muscle is extremely developed for me. But everything else has suffered.
I printed out a 300+ page manuscript of poems I have written over the last 20 years with the intention of publishing a poetry collection as a follow-up to my collection Voices In My Head and the chapbook And They Say: Black Men Don’t Write Love Poetry, which I self-published in 2005. It has been four weeks and I have only had one two-hour editing/rewriting session. The poetry writing muscle is weak. Really weak.
I have also found that, because I have been focused on writing either to deadline or for immediate publishing online, I am struggling to take my time with writing. The benefit of doing my Morning Pages consistently over the last 7/8 years does make sitting down to write easier but it feels strangely disposable.
I am leaning towards my next being being a collection of substantial essays which needs me to give each one time. By way of procrastinating, I have been thinking of what the writing will be rather than doing the actual writing. I have a file open with a working title for the book that I wrote and saved three weeks ago (after thinking about it for two months). That’s it.
I feel like the mechanic with the broken down car.
This is also not helped by constantly adding things to my plate that require - and dissipate - my energy. I am in the middle of reading Cal Newport’s Slow Productivity: The Lost Art of Accomplishment Without Burnout in which he unpacks ways of removing the many little tasks that we accummulate, distracting us from doing the actual work.
I also just finished reading On Writing Well: The Classic Guide To Writing Non-Fiction by William Zinsser.
“You learn to write by writing. It’s a truism, but what makes it a truism is that it’s true. The only way to learn to write is to force yourself to produce a certain number of words on a regular basis.”
I am curious as to what your practice is, regardless of field and/or profession.
Ps. This took me an hour and a half to write. The internal debate was, do I hold onto it (perhaps save for the book) or do I share immediately.
Thank you for this Koko, and for this newsletter, I actually read every post and find your views relatable! I know the feeling of writing something and wondering if I should share it or hold on to it, and I definitely almost always choose to save it for later, which means that I don’t get to share my work enough. I also think because my first book was a memoir, I had what Brene Brown called the vulnerability hangover. Before I used to think twice before sharing a piece of writing online, now I think 10-times before I sharing (including this comment haha) and I don’t really like that. I think a part of me is still holding me up to the standard of my book (will my voice be authorial enough) which is so last of last year. I am currently in between writing my second work and reading for my PhD, although not as deeply embedded in both projects as I would like. I just got myself a tablet which is making both reading and writing a bit more fun, I think I will be getting a lot done in the coming months and hoping to share more of the work that is hiding in my drawers! I am not a morning person, but I want to change that and I think morning pages might be a good way of going about this! Thank you again for your newsletter, keep it coming!
Kojo, thank you for sharing this, 'immediately', and opening up the conversation! Substack offers a valuable opportunity for readers and writers to engage behind the scenes, or 'under the hood' in your case. My writing is rooted in a love for reading widely, and when I made a conscious decision to write with purpose I did quite a bit of research into 'how' to write. A game changer for me however was George Orwell's essay, Why I Write (1946), that made me dig deeper into my reasons for writing. This understanding helped me bring greater focus and impact to my writing, across the various formats - be it a comment, note or article.