Younger Jack,
Writing is simply the translation of thoughts.
And 90% of you’re inability to translate your thoughts stems from conscious intervention.
You’re trying too hard to sound intelligent or witty or… like a writer. You’re looking for places to insert fancy punctuation, big words, and beautiful metaphors. You’re like an artistic-attention-whore looking to put your signature on every sentence.
Why?
Perhaps you want to be seen as the doer or the thinker… so you leave little hints of your having been there. You want to be able to stand back from the writing and say ‘Look! I did that! I thought of that!”
…. the problem with conscious intervention, though, is that when you (or someone else) finally reads the writing… they can feel the manipulative effort … and that’s no bueno.
You never want to feel the effort that went into a sentence while you’re reading it.
A good sentence is just a good thought that was effortlessly translated from the brain, down through the arms, through the hands, and into a keyboard.
So… Younger Jack, you must remove the middle man. Remove yourself.
Rather than thinking a thought, trying to wrangle it with your conscious mind, and then typing it…. instead: think the thought, and then type it.
Trust that your thoughts are coherent and complete as is. Trust that the unconscious is more intelligent and creative than the conscious.
And, if after all that, after removing yourself from the equation… if the writing still sucks, then the problem is not your translational abilities, but rather the thoughts themselves.
If that’s the case, then you’re likely translating unripe thoughts. Yes, unripe. Thoughts are like fruits, and when you pluck them (write them) too early, they come out tasting strange.
You want to save time by cutting to the end, but you can’t fool yourself or the reader when they bite down.
Perhaps your thinking needs more time to ripen.
Maybe you need to walk around the block. Maybe you need to read a few more books. Maybe you need a glass of water or a girlfriend or a meeting with god.
Maybe you need to write the shit thoughts out of your system.
Whatever it is, that’s ok.
‘Cause years from now, you’ll be able to eye a thought, give it a squeeze, and know instinctively whether it’s ready for consumption.
And when it comes time to translate those ripe-thoughts, you’ll also know the difference between the words coming to you, and you coming up with the words.
You’ll be gone and the message will be sweet.
Yours,
Older Jack