There is no better day than when you rise to revamp, to rehash, to re-write. The inspiration greets you like a brilliant sunrise, just as it did the first time you wrote whatever that was.
The virtual sawdust lies around your mental workshop. Occasionally, you sweep and vacuum it away, just so you are undistracted while you review the new beauty you've created. A touch here, a nip there. And, at last, voila! A new creation out of the old.
And a new life takes place.
Much as the old life did when it was first born in your workshop, to walk out on it's own and face the day....
Donβt judge your writing with the number of engagement you get, keep writing! Also, your inspiration and encouragement can come from reading your past works.
At a first glance, the complementary skill to writing seems to be reading. In a way, you need readers to validate the writing as such.
But for me, writing well is thinking well, it's less about the readership and more about the mental gymnastics you do to formulate words into a sentence.
"The important part is that I found it again. And I know itβs worth much more than the lack of love it has received." - I love this line! It's amazing as well how those older pieces are now a certain distance (time, life stage) away from the 'now', so we can view them with fresh eyes. More objective, maybe. More skilled, likely. Either way, old writing is like a gift from your past self to your future self. :)
When I started here I planned to basically cut and paste some content from my old course with therapy concepts and make that into my new Substack.
I relate to the cringe! My writing wasnβt good enough as the quality is so high here, so Iβm having to re-write it all. Itβs good it has been worked through before as it makes it easier this time around!
I absolutely agree with the need to review things I have written and nudge, improve verbiage, communicate better, keep typos away, etc. I am not remotely competitive, though and I refrain from any thought of competing with others. There are many-many-many great writers on Substack, far above me in skill or ability to communicate. If I simmered too long on comparision, I would never get out the gate...a problem that has taunted me my entire adult life. Sometimes I just have to take a deep breath after I have reviewed/edited a few times, say a prayer and press "send" or "post" and hope for the best...and then on to the next piece. I do take inspiration from the many brilliant and interesting writers on Substack and I also follow my heart and my life experience.
I make efforts daily, ensuring I give my writing prowess a boost. When I look at my old work, I still feel I have not attained perfection in writing, infact I see careless blunders; so I told myself I would continue to read, read and read until I get the satisfaction of being an excellent writer.
Not sure why it's different this time, but I am falling in love with my writing. In reviewing some of my old stuff, I occasionally get that awed, "I wrote that?" feeling. That's one thing propelling me forward right now--I know I can write really well. How long it will take me to stumble on that flow this time is anybody's guess. But I'm staying'!
Many people forget about repurposing older content. Something I do is if there is not enough material for an article I repurpose it as posts on social media cutting out all the stuff that makes me cringe when I read it.
I am genuinely intrigued by the claim that we should be 'paid' as clearly there are royalties to had and fees if we are lucky - but someone else said that to me and I just felt that they were being naive! And then that I as being horrible by explaining that...glad to have found you anyway.
Your writing journey is a reminder to explore, experiment, and reinvent our writing skills.
I like the way you put that, it can motivate the shyness in me! π
There is no better day than when you rise to revamp, to rehash, to re-write. The inspiration greets you like a brilliant sunrise, just as it did the first time you wrote whatever that was.
The virtual sawdust lies around your mental workshop. Occasionally, you sweep and vacuum it away, just so you are undistracted while you review the new beauty you've created. A touch here, a nip there. And, at last, voila! A new creation out of the old.
And a new life takes place.
Much as the old life did when it was first born in your workshop, to walk out on it's own and face the day....
Donβt judge your writing with the number of engagement you get, keep writing! Also, your inspiration and encouragement can come from reading your past works.
Thank you for this.
You're welcome! I'm glad you found some inspiration!
Writing is an interesting verb.
At a first glance, the complementary skill to writing seems to be reading. In a way, you need readers to validate the writing as such.
But for me, writing well is thinking well, it's less about the readership and more about the mental gymnastics you do to formulate words into a sentence.
"The important part is that I found it again. And I know itβs worth much more than the lack of love it has received." - I love this line! It's amazing as well how those older pieces are now a certain distance (time, life stage) away from the 'now', so we can view them with fresh eyes. More objective, maybe. More skilled, likely. Either way, old writing is like a gift from your past self to your future self. :)
Yessss exactly!
When I started here I planned to basically cut and paste some content from my old course with therapy concepts and make that into my new Substack.
I relate to the cringe! My writing wasnβt good enough as the quality is so high here, so Iβm having to re-write it all. Itβs good it has been worked through before as it makes it easier this time around!
And rewriting is such a good exercise all the time!
I absolutely agree with the need to review things I have written and nudge, improve verbiage, communicate better, keep typos away, etc. I am not remotely competitive, though and I refrain from any thought of competing with others. There are many-many-many great writers on Substack, far above me in skill or ability to communicate. If I simmered too long on comparision, I would never get out the gate...a problem that has taunted me my entire adult life. Sometimes I just have to take a deep breath after I have reviewed/edited a few times, say a prayer and press "send" or "post" and hope for the best...and then on to the next piece. I do take inspiration from the many brilliant and interesting writers on Substack and I also follow my heart and my life experience.
Mine always come out completely different than when I started.
I make efforts daily, ensuring I give my writing prowess a boost. When I look at my old work, I still feel I have not attained perfection in writing, infact I see careless blunders; so I told myself I would continue to read, read and read until I get the satisfaction of being an excellent writer.
David, i love the analogy you used in this Medium article:
https://medium.com/practice-in-public/i-wrote-over-100-stories-on-medium-in-3-5-f426cfff4a72
βGeneric imagery from Unsplash is like elevator music β youβre barely aware of itβs existenceβ
so crisp!! i wish i invented it ππ½
david, i also just read your article βThe 1 Thing That Will Ensure Your Newsletter Survivesβ
https://medium.com/writers-in-progress/the-1-thing-that-will-ensure-your-newsletter-survives-65b9feab1fd5
my substack newsletter is 340+ subscribers, Iβm curious, how does one transform it into a community experience?
is there a framework?
This was so valuable to read, thank you!
Not sure why it's different this time, but I am falling in love with my writing. In reviewing some of my old stuff, I occasionally get that awed, "I wrote that?" feeling. That's one thing propelling me forward right now--I know I can write really well. How long it will take me to stumble on that flow this time is anybody's guess. But I'm staying'!
Many people forget about repurposing older content. Something I do is if there is not enough material for an article I repurpose it as posts on social media cutting out all the stuff that makes me cringe when I read it.
I am genuinely intrigued by the claim that we should be 'paid' as clearly there are royalties to had and fees if we are lucky - but someone else said that to me and I just felt that they were being naive! And then that I as being horrible by explaining that...glad to have found you anyway.
This was a great read! I had forgotten about my old blog articles, but I plan to revisit them and maybe share them elsewhere.
Love this so much.