I will start with these words:
A quote from Art and Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orlund, occasionally recycles itself over my social media, and it never fails to hit me where I live:
The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot - albeit a perfect one - to get an "A".
Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
Writing is like any other skill. It is a thing we learn and improve upon over time. Thus, frequency of writing is important to honing abilities. However, I believe a more important thing for writers to focus on is frequency of composition.
I write emails and text messages every day. I comment on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. This is all writing, but very little of it is active composition. It is, instead, reactive. Fast. Prone to errors. It will not improve me as a writer.
Active composition is, instead, slow, deliberate, and more likely to accurately portray my opinions. I am able to consider spelling, grammar, structure, and how best to convey my intent without misunderstandings. Where I am stating facts, I'm more able to reference my sources and I'm less likely to go off gut 'feel'. I am able to consider the language that I use, and if it is most appropriate to my message. These are the things that will enable me to see my own flaws and correct them. And the more frequently I do this, the more efficient I will become at these things.
Having said all this, you may find yourself stagnating if you are writing in a vacuum. Feedback is important for growth, so look to outside influences for critique.
- You don't need to write every day.
- You certainly don't need to write 10,000 words per day.
- Especially not if writing is not your means of feeding yourself.
A quote from Art and Fear, by David Bayles and Ted Orlund, occasionally recycles itself over my social media, and it never fails to hit me where I live:
The ceramics teacher announced on opening day that he was dividing the class into two groups. All those on the left side of the studio, he said, would be graded solely on the quantity of work they produced, all those on the right solely on its quality. His procedure was simple: on the final day of class he would bring in his bathroom scales and weigh the work of the "quantity" group: fifty pound of pots rated an "A", forty pounds a "B", and so on. Those being graded on "quality", however, needed to produce only one pot - albeit a perfect one - to get an "A".
Well, came grading time and a curious fact emerged: the works of highest quality were all produced by the group being graded for quantity. It seems that while the "quantity" group was busily churning out piles of work - and learning from their mistakes - the "quality" group had sat theorizing about perfection, and in the end had little more to show for their efforts than grandiose theories and a pile of dead clay.
Writing is like any other skill. It is a thing we learn and improve upon over time. Thus, frequency of writing is important to honing abilities. However, I believe a more important thing for writers to focus on is frequency of composition.
I write emails and text messages every day. I comment on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn. This is all writing, but very little of it is active composition. It is, instead, reactive. Fast. Prone to errors. It will not improve me as a writer.
Active composition is, instead, slow, deliberate, and more likely to accurately portray my opinions. I am able to consider spelling, grammar, structure, and how best to convey my intent without misunderstandings. Where I am stating facts, I'm more able to reference my sources and I'm less likely to go off gut 'feel'. I am able to consider the language that I use, and if it is most appropriate to my message. These are the things that will enable me to see my own flaws and correct them. And the more frequently I do this, the more efficient I will become at these things.
Having said all this, you may find yourself stagnating if you are writing in a vacuum. Feedback is important for growth, so look to outside influences for critique.
Kristine Sihto spends her days writing for an Information Security Consultancy and her nights writing for herself, painting, and playing computer games. She is the author of poetry book Life Wires, available on this site or via Lulu.