24 Things I Learned About Writing
24 Lessons from 2024
Notes to Self
I often say I am not one for looking backwards. In general, that’s true … there’s always a plan, or an idea, to move forward with and so my eye is drawn forward. I avoid the weight of reflection that too often dwells on ‘what didn’t go well’ or what has been left undone.
This writing ‘project’ feels a little different, and I have got into the habit of reflecting on how it is going. Not in a measurable way; this is not about numbers, viewing figures or graphs moving up (or down). It is way more subjective than that. And it is personal. This is a list of observations, things I’ve noticed about my practice during a(nother) year of writing. I am capturing the thoughts* in one place as a reference point; perhaps it will inspire me during 2025 when I intend to write more.
* This is not a recipe or a prescription; it is not a ‘you should do this, or that’ kind of list. It is my ‘well I never, look at me thinking like a writer’ thoughts.
I keep a notebook full of prompts but this year
inspired me to keep a commonplace book, brimful of references, quotes and beautiful words.The words rarely dry up but the ideas do.
You might imagine that you need a ‘special place’ to write - the perfect room, a calm retreat, your desk set up in that particular way - but I think you really just need your mind to be in a special place.
The more you read, the better you write.
Read things written by people who are interested in different things to you, in styles that are wildly different to the way you write. Seek out differences to inspire your work.
Celebrate others.
You don’t have to write every day to be a writer.
Stay curious.
If you wake up in the morning and the words aren’t there, go and do something else rather than staring at a blank page.
I don’t buy that thing about ‘bleeding onto the page’. Writing should be something you enjoy doing.
Engage with other writers. Share their project, read their words, tell other folk about them. Writing is a community … there’s no need to be alone.
If we convince ourselves that fiction is not a thing on
that’s the way it will be. Celebrate it loudly and often. Special mentions to and for their tireless efforts to corral, share and celebrate work that deserves a wider audience.Enter your work for competitions; seek out the publications you’d love to see your pieces in. Be confident about your writing.
BUT … the thing about 13. is that you only get to decide to enter or submit … you don’t get to select the winner or decide what gets published. Don’t be disheartened. Writing the damn thing was your job.
Ask for help. Special mention here to
for making my favourite piece of the year - ‘Little Butterfly’ - way better at the end than it was at the beginning. Ask … the right people just love to help.Have fun … it is meant to be enjoyable (play this one on repeat).
A writer is somebody for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
Thomas Mann, Essays of Three Decades, 1947
Try all sorts of writing. Once you get comfortable with flash fiction, try something longer. Bored of that novel that refuses to write itself, tinker around with 100-worders. Use someone else’s prompt and turn it on its head. That story you’ve written with the man as the hero, turn him into a heroine. Look for the twist in the
tailtale.If you write words, you are a writer. For sure, only novelists have novels. Authors have been published. But writers produce words. YOU are a writer.
I used to loathe editing. I was convinced I was able to bang out my best story in the finest sentences in one sitting … ready-steady-write. But that is nonsense. Writing IS editing. It is finessing, sharpening, honing, crafting. Good writing is spare … it is show, not tell. My best writing this year has been thought about, trimmed, pruned, and fine-tuned. I have produced less, but better. I now understand what Stephen King was getting at when he said “To write is human; to edit is divine”.
Substack writers I have enjoyed reading in 2024 …
(writing about writing) (see also, ‘creative fires’)Learn something new. My writing (and my approach to storytelling) was markedly improved by attending a course run by
Be proud of your work. You are allowed to pat yourself on the back and say “Nice Work, Barrie” (clearly, if that’s not your actual name that might sound a little weird. Feel free to substitute in your own name).
End of year reflections are fine but make a forward-looking commitment to do more writing next year. Honestly, writing is for life not just for Christmas!
This is your FINAL reminder, writing is allowed to be fun.
Quick Links
Remember Number 22? Be proud of your work. Here are a few stories that show me I am making some progress, pieces of work that encourage me to write more. And we all need that nudge, wouldn’t you say?
Well, Trained
After three days of trekking, the high mountain pass opened to offer him a stunning view of the hazy lowlands. Shimmering heat reflected an image of hope and anticipation. The ramshackle building stood out, stark against the pale, lonely emptiness of the salt flats. A rail track stretched right and left, waiting patiently for the once-a-week arrival …
Three Hoarse Men
Do you ever wonder how Tom would have got on without Jerry? Stan Laurel would have had an even longer face without Oliver Hardy. The ‘Magnificent Four’ would never have held off the marauding banditos and the ‘Five Musketeers’ would be those dinner guests who need the fold-up chair you keep in the garage.
Mopping Up
This is a fresh version of a story I published earlier in the year, edited over the past week to create a second entry for the 2024 Aesthetica Creative Writing Award. I have no high ambitions when I enter a writing competition; but it feels important to put myself out there.
Until the next time, happy writing. The world needs your ideas and words.
Barrie
Dear Barrie, thank you for including me! I greatly appreciate it.
To the point about editing and revising - I want to share a (somewhat long) fantastic quote from George Saunders that has really impacted how I write:
“How, then, to proceed? My method is: I imagine a meter mounted in my forehead, with “P” on this side (“Positive”) and “N” on this side (“Negative”). I try to read what I’ve written uninflectedly, the way a first-time reader might (“without hope and without despair”). Where’s the needle? Accept the result without whining. Then edit, so as to move the needle into the “P” zone. Enact a repetitive, obsessive, iterative application of preference: watch the needle, adjust the prose, watch the needle, adjust the prose (rinse, lather, repeat), through (sometimes) hundreds of drafts. Like a cruise ship slowly turning, the story will start to alter course via those thousands of incremental adjustments.
The artist, in this model, is like the optometrist, always asking: Is it better like this? Or like this?
The interesting thing, in my experience, is that the result of this laborious and slightly obsessive process is a story that is better than I am in “real life” – funnier, kinder, less full of crap, more empathetic, with a clearer sense of virtue, both wiser and more entertaining.
And what a pleasure that is; to be, on the page, less of a dope than usual.” - George Saunders
#18. True!