Arts
Monday Motivation – What vs How This is a special Monday Motivation for me. I’ve been working a lot a lot a lot behind the scenes to define what is this thing called How Writers Write. When I launched this project six months ago, I really had no idea what would happen. I’ve said this before, but I had no clue if anyone would listen to this podcast or be into my message. But listen they have, and it feels as if I’ve hit on something in the writing life that is both under served and super important.What is that?Well, it took like six months for me to really wrap my arms around it. But, it is the difference between what to write vs how to write. Let me know explain.The big problem in how we learn to write is that we really focus solely on what to write… so things like plot, character, meter, dialogue, etc. More or less the mechanics of how to write a story. Every writing program or book or even my MFA heavily emphasized the ‘what’ and for good reason. There is an entire world of technique hidden in the what. But, here’s the thing, the what is not nearly as important as the how. Said another way, learning how to write is a critical and underserved part of this writing adventure that we are on. How to write means learning discipline, routine, beliefs, goals, energy. It is the skills we need to literally take all of that head knowledge of what to write and actually make something of it on the page. The how of writing, though, isn’t just about production. The how is also the path to the joy of storytelling, when we are in the flow of writing and the words just pour out of us. For a long time, I wondered why I met writers who were 10x more talented than I was. Like, they could write sentences with a skill I couldn’t even imagine. But, these same people couldn’t get their stories onto the page. They’d have a drawer filled of half-finished manuscripts, which is just another way of saying half-finished dreams. By all accounts, these were the phenoms who should be the next Shakespeare, yet they were stuck. I can think of a few now who never ever went on to finish their work, publish, anything.These people had the what of writing down pat. Signed, sealed, delivered. But, they didn’t know how to write. How Writers Write is now and forever more in the business of teaching writers how to write. Not that the what isn’t important—it is critically important—but you better believe it is worthless to know how to plot if you aren’t putting words down on the page and loving the journey. Here’s some good news. I believe some people are born with a special gift for the what. Truly. I’m not one of them. But, I believe that. But, I also believe 100% of people can learn how to write. And, in the long run, learning how to write will pay 10x dividends than any inborn talent. Many of your favorite writers—I’ve interviewed some of them on the podcast—will tell you the biggest struggle they had was just learning how to write, and then once they learned their process, the pieces fell into place. And so now we come full circle, now I can see that this entire thing is all about. The mission of How Writers Write is to empower and inspire 1M writers to tell their story. Yes. 1M. I told that number to a consultant and he laughed, and then I told him to expletive off. The world needs your story and you need to tell it. It is a double entendre. You may not have been born with every writing gift, you may not have been taught the what of writing until later in your life (like me)… but dammit you can learn how to write. I’ll go to my grave believing that. Support the show (http://www.howwriterswrite.com)